Jan. 3, 2007
Box Score
FORT WORTH, Texas - TCU jumped out to an 18-point halftime lead, and withstood UNLV's second half rally to claim an 88-63 victory over the Lady Rebels in the Mountain West Conference women's basketball season opener for both teams on Wednesday afternoon from Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
The Lady Frogs (11-4, 1-0) held a 49-31 halftime edge, but UNLV (6-7, 0-1) opened the second stanza on an 11-0 burst. Latosha Pace keyed the run for UNLV, scoring eight points including a pair of three-pointers during the rally. UNLV in fact would close to within seven twice in the second half, and held TCU to just seven points in the first eight minutes. Following a Kisha Lee three-pointer that made the score 59-51, the Lady Frogs took over from there. TCU scored the next 11 points, part of a 20-4 run over a 5:36 span, to put the game out of reach. A jumper from Hanna Biernacka, who scored a career-high 26 points, capped the run at 5:15 to make the score 79-55.
The first half was all TCU, as the host team shot 64% from the floor, and held UNLV to just 35.5%. The game was close for the first nine minutes before the Lady Frogs made their run, scoring nine unanswered to open up a 33-23 lead with 7:54 on the clock. TCU ran off another 9-0 spurt later in the half for a 43-25 lead, and kept that spread going into the break.
Pace and Lee both scored 16 points to pace the Lady Rebels, but were the only two to finish in double figures. Brittany Halberg was next with nine points, while Sequoia Holmes added seven and Faye Muller posted six points and a game-high 12 rebounds. UNLV was hurt by the shooting of its guards, as not including Pace, the other three guards (Kameca Simmons, Brittany Halberg, and Sequoia Holmes) combined to go 4-of-23 from the floor for the game. As a team, UNLV finished 22-of-59 for 37.3%, and were 14-of-24 at the line for 58.3%. They were also outrebounded by nine, 45-36, and turned the ball over 17 times.
Biernacka, who finished 13-of-19 from the floor, led four players in double figures for TCU. Adrianne Ross posted 15 points, Ashley Davis knocked in 13, while Lorie Butler-Rayford scored 10 off the bench. The Lady Frogs finished the game shooting 51.4% (37-of-72).
The 88 points is the second-most ever given up by UNLV in a Mountain West game, while the 25-point loss was the largest for the Lady Rebels in league play since a 74-48 loss at BYU on Feb. 5, 2005.
UNLV will now return home for its conference home opener on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 7 pm against San Diego State in the Cox Pavilion.
