Jan. 9, 2010

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - Leading by one point with under four minutes to play, New Mexico used a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to hold off UNLV with a 63-54 victory in Mountain West Conference women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon from the Cox Pavilion. The Lady Rebels dropped to 7-9, 0-2 in league play with their third-straight loss, while New Mexico earned just its fifth-ever win in Las Vegas over UNLV to improve to 9-5, 1-1 in the MWC.

UNLV trailed by six at halftime, and by eight with just under 13 minutes to play, 39-31 on a tip-in from Jessica Kielpinski. Erica Helms hit a trey for the Lady Rebs to ignite a 9-0 run, and her second trey of the afternoon capped the run to give UNLV a 40-39 edge with 9:49 to play. Lauren Taylor gave the Lobos the lead back with a trey on the other end, and the game would be tied again at 44-44 on Kelli Thompson's first three-pointer of the afternoon with 6:46 to play. Kielpinski then scored four straight for UNM, while another Thompson trey brought UNLV within 48-47 at the 5:05 mark.

The Lady Rebs had three chances to take a lead, but missed one three-point attempt and turned the ball over twice. Sara Halasz converted a layup on the other end for a 50-47 lead with 3:33 on the clock. That was followed by an Eileen Weissmann layup and a three-point play from Kielpinski for a 55-47 Lobo edge with 1:49 to play. UNM would make six-of-six at the line in the final minute to finish with the nine-point win.

Poor shooting from the floor in the first half for UNLV, in which it made 6-of-24 for 25%, helped UNM jump out to a 19-10 lead. The lead was still at nine, 26-17 in the final two minutes, before the Lady Rebs scored the final three points of the half to go into halftime down 26-20.

Helms led UNLV with 17 points and also had five assists and no turnovers. Thompson added 10 points, while Jamie Smith added seven points and 10 rebounds. As a team, UNLV shot 32% (16-of-50), was 7-of-24 from three-point range for 29.2%, and made 15-of-23 (65.2%) at the charity stripe. UNLV held a 40-36 edge on the boards, but turned the ball over 19 times, leading to a 19-7 edge for New Mexico on points off turnovers.

Kielpinski led all scorers with 18 points and 12 rebounds for New Mexico, and Lauren Taylor added 11 points off the bench, including three three-pointers. UNM shot 39% (23-of-59) for the game, was 4-of-20 (20%) from three-point range, and made 13-of-17 at the free throw line for 76.5%.

UNLV returns to action with a two-game conference road trip, starting with a Wednesday, Jan. 13 contest at San Diego State with a 7 pm tipoff.