Dec. 19, 2009
Box Score
LAS VEGAS - Freshman guard Kelli Thompson scored a game-high 22 points and hit the game-winning shot with just two seconds left to give UNLV a 68-66 victory over VCU in a first round game on Saturday night in the Duel In The Desert tournament, hosted by UNLV in the Cox Pavilion. The Lady Rebels, who earned their first home victory of the season, improve to 5-5 on the season and will face the winner of the Kansas State-Hawaii game on Sunday night in the second round at 7:30 pm. Other games in the Duel included No. 10 Florida State defeating UTSA 65-50, and DePaul outlasting Arkansas 46-45.
UNLV trailed by eight at halftime, 38-30, but held the Rams scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half to close within one, 38-37. VCU (5-3) answered back with a 5-0 run to grab a six-point lead, 43-37, and again led by six, 48-42 with 12 minutes to play. The Lady Rebels then held the Rams to another long scoreless drought, this time lasting four minutes, while UNLV would reel off eight unanswered points to grab the lead for the first time in the second half. Two free throws from Markiell Styles gave UNLV a 49-48 edge with 8:17 to play.
The score changed hands four times over the next five minutes, before Thompson drained a three-pointer at the top of the key to put UNLV up 61-58 at the 2:30 mark. She then added a layup 40 seconds later for a five-point Lady Rebel edge. A layup from Styles gave UNLV a 65-59 lead with 46 seconds to play, but VCU wasn't ready to give up as Jennifer Lane scored a layup and drew a foul. She missed the free throw but the rebound went to the Rams, and D'Andra Moss hit a trey to close the edge to 65-64. Erica Helms made one of two free throws at the other end for a two-point UNLV lead, which was followed by a short jumper from Kita Waller with 15 seconds to play that tied the game at 66-66. UNLV brought the ball down, and Thompson drove into the paint before pulling up and nailing a 15-foot jumper for the game-winner with two seconds to go. VCU's desperation three-pointer at the buzzer would be off the mark.
Both teams were hot from the floor to begin the game, with VCU hitting 10 of its first 11 shots on the way to building a 22-15 lead. The Rams would grab their largest lead of the game, 29-19 on a Waller layup with 6:32 left in the first half. Back-to-back treys from Thompson and Helms started a 11-0 run, and another Thompson trey capped the run to put UNLV up 30-29 with 3:45 to play in the first stanza. VCU then closed the half with nine unanswered points to go into halftime up by eight.
Thompson finished the game hitting 8-of-13 from the floor, 4-of-8 from three-point range for her 22 points, while Helms joined her in double-figures with 14 points. As a team, UNLV shot a season-high 49.1% (27-of-65) from the floor, made 8-of-24 (33.3%) from behind the arc, and was 6-of-9 (66.7%) at the line. The Lady Rebels held a 42-28 rebounding edge, helping to make up for 24 turnovers.
La'Tavis led VCU with 18 points, and was followed by Waller with 14 and Moss with 12. The Rams shot 41.5% (27-of-65) for the game, made 35.3% (6-of-17) of their attempts from downtown, and was 6-of-10 (60%) at the charity stripe.
