Jan. 17, 2009

Box Score

LARAMIE, Wyo. - Sophomore guard Erica Helms poured in a career-high 23 points and UNLV scored eight of the final 10 points of the game to earn its first Mountain West Conference victory of the year, 71-64 at Wyoming on Saturday afternoon in Arena Auditorium. The win, which broke a four-game losing streak and was UNLV's first win at Wyoming since the 2003-04 season, improved the Lady Rebels to 8-9, 1-3 in league play. The Cowgirls meanwhile dropped to 8-8, 0-3 in the MWC.

Helms finished the afternoon 8-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-6 from three-point range, which included a shot just past the half court line at the halftime buzzer that gave UNLV a 33-30 lead. The Lady Rebels hit 10 three-pointers in the game, and held a 49-36 edge on the boards, highlighted by freshman Jamie Smith's career-high 15-rebound performance.

After slow starts to open the first half in its previous four games, the Lady Rebels came up looking to attack, and grabbed a 7-0 lead just under five minutes into the contest. Wyoming battled back to tie it at 9-9, and the game was back and forth for the rest of the first half, with seven ties and four lead changes. Kristen Scheffler hit a three-pointer to give the Cowgirls a 28-25 edge with 2:34 to play, but UNLV countered with a Dominique Harris trey and a Shamela Hampton layup for a 30-28 advantage. Scheffler would tie the game on a layup with five seconds left in the half. UNLV then quickly inbounded the ball to Helms, who raced past halfcourt and unleashed a shot that swished in at the buzzer.

The lead remained at three for UNLV before a jumper from Helms started an 11-3 run, giving UNLV a 50-39 lead off a Hampton free throw at the 11:56 mark. Megan McGuffey started a rally for Wyoming by scoring seven straight, part of a 13-0 run that pushed the Cowgirls ahead 52-50 with 7:12 to play. The game was then tied three more times, and changed hands four more times in the next five minutes, with the last tie coming with three minutes left off a layup from McGuffey. Shannon Oberg answered with a three-pointer for the Lady Rebels to give them a 63-60 edge with 2:40 to go, and they would not give up the lead the rest of the game. UNLV scored on its final five offensive possessions of the game, and made six-of-eight at the line in the final two minutes to seal the victory.

Hampton joined Helms in double-figures with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Harris added 10 points and eight rebounds. UNLV shot 36.1% (22-of-61) for the game, was 10-of-27 (37.0%) from three-point range, and made 17-of-23 at the line for 73.8%.

Hillary Carlson paced the Cowgirls with 20 points and seven rebounds, McGuffey added 18 points, and Scheffler posted 15. Wyoming shot 36.1% (22-of-61) as well for the game, but was just 6-of-23 from downtown (26.1%).

UNLV will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 21, when it hosts BYU at 7 pm in the Cox Pavilion.