Jan. 16, 2008

Box Score

PROVO, Utah - BYU's Mallary Carling scored a season-high 26 points, and took advantage of UNLV's foul troubles to hand the Lady Rebels a 67-55 defeat on Wednesday night in Mountain West Conference women's basketball action from the Marriott Center. The Lady Rebels lost for the first time in conference play to fall to 6-10 overall, and 2-1 in the MWC, while BYU improved to 8-6, 2-0 in the league.

The key play of the game happened near the beginning of the second half. UNLV, after trailing by 14 points in the second half, closed to within three on a Sequoia Holmes layup to begin the half, and had a chance to tie the game on Fanny Tirtiaux's trey, but her shot was off the mark. Then on the other side of the floor, Holmes was called for her fourth foul for bumping Carling after she landed following a three-point attempt. Holmes, the leading scorer in the MWC, was sent to the bench for the next 10 minutes, and Carling made all three free throws to put BYU up 33-27. While Holmes sat out, the Cougars took control, outscoring the Lady Rebels by an 18-8 edge, and led 48-35 before she entered the game with 9:24 on the clock.

BYU increased the lead to as high as 21 points, 56-35 on a layup from Lauren Varley with 7:24 on the clock. The Lady Rebels then pulled off one last rally, outscoring BYU 15-3 over the next six minutes. Shamela Hampton's jumper with 1:31 left brought UNLV within nine points, 59-50, but the Cougars would make eight of nine at the line over the final 90 seconds to seal the victory.

Nothing went right offensively for UNLV to begin the game, as it missed nine of its first 10 shots from the floor, and made just 2-of-7 at the line to trail 18-4 with just over nine minutes left in the first half. BYU held a 15-point lead, 24-9 with 6:27 on the clock before UNLV put together a 16-4 run over the next six minutes. A 7-0 spurt brought UNLV to within three points, 28-25 on a pair of Erica Helms free throws, before Carling knocked down a jumper to give BYU a 30-25 edge going into halftime.

Despite her foul trouble, Holmes still paced UNLV with 14 points, while Brittany Halberg poured in 10 points. Latoya Hunt scored a career-high nine points off the bench as well, while Hampton posted six points and a team-high six rebounds. The Lady Rebels were held to 34.0% (18-of-53) from the floor, 4-of-18 from three-point range (22.2%), and made just 15-of-24 from the line for 62.5%. UNLV was outrebounded by a 40-32 margin, but did force 23 turnovers while coming up with 11 steals.

Joining Carling in double figures for BYU was Varley with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. The Cougars shot 45.8% (22-of-48) for the game, and made 21-of-28 at the line for 75%.

UNLV will have this weekend off before turning to action next Wednesday, Jan. 23, in Laramie against Wyoming in a 6 pm contest.