March 11, 2009
Box Score | Quotes 
LAS VEGAS - UNLV post players Shamela Hampton and Jamie Smith combined for 39 points and 22 rebounds, and the Lady Rebels jumped out to a 20-point halftime lead on the way to pulling off an 84-75 upset of third-seed TCU (20-10) on Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the 2009 Mountain West Conference Tournament from the Thomas & Mack Center. The seventh-seeded Lady Rebels, who have now won two straight games in the tournament, improved to 14-17 with their fourth win in the last five games, and earned just its second-ever win over TCU in 13 meetings.
UNLV advances to the MWC semifinals for the sixth time in tournament history, and is making its first appearance since the 2006 tournament in Denver. The Lady Rebels will take on second seed San Diego State, who received a bye into the semifinals, on Friday at 2:30 pm in a game televised live by The Mtn.
TCU won both meetings during the regular season, including a 29-point win in Fort Worth on Feb. 10, but it was obvious from the start this would be a much different outcome. The Lady Frogs did jump out to an early 9-5 lead, but UNLV then took control of the game with a 15-0 spurt over a six-minute span. Six different Lady Rebels scored during the run, and Smith's three-pointer gave UNLV a 20-9 edge with 9:23 left in the half. Following a trey from TCU's TK LaFleur that made the score 27-19, UNLV closed the half with a 16-4 run over the final 4:22. Hampton's layup with five seconds left gave the Lady Rebels a 43-23 lead at halftime, which was its second-largest halftime of the lead, behind a 26-point edge over Southern Utah in the second game of the year.
UNLV increased the lead to 22 on a Hampton layup to begin the half. TCU then slowly chipped away at the lead, cutting it to 12 at the 13:22 mark following three straight treys. The Frogs cut the lead to 12 with six minutes to play, and to 11 with five minutes left, but both times the Lady Rebels answered with a three of their own. TCU would not get within single digits until the final basket of the game.
Hampton and Smith both increased their shared lead of season double-doubles in the conference to 13 each, while Smith's set a UNLV freshman record. Hampton finished the night with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and she was 7-of-8 at the line as well. Smith posted 18 points and 11 rebounds, while India Chaney and Shannon Oberg both scored 13 each. Allison Holiday came off the bench to score nine points off three treys, and added a career-high eight assists.
As a team, UNLV set a new tournament record with 24 assists, including 12 on 14 field goals in the first half. The Lady Rebels shot over 50% for just the second time this year, making 29-of-55 from the floor for 52.7%. UNLV was also 10-of-23 from three-point range for 43.5%, and made 16-of-18 at the line for 88.9%. UNLV held a 33-28 edge on the boards, and has a season-low 10 turnovers.
TCU was paced by Helena Sverrisdottir's 16 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. LaFleur scored a team-high 19 points, while Shayla Moore had 13 points off the bench and Emily Carter added 11. The Frogs shot 41.4% (24-of-58) for the game, made 11-of-30 (36.7%) from behind the arc, and was 16-of-18 at the line (88.9%).
