Dec. 3, 2011
Box Score
BERKELEY, Calif. (UNLVRebels.com) - Five players scored in double-figures for UNLV, who held off a pesky Prairie View A&M team 73-60 in the first round of the Doubletree by Hilton Berkeley Marina Cal Classic in women's college basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Hass Pavilion. With the win, UNLV improved to 7-1 on the season, while the Lady Panthers dropped to 1-6. UNLV will now take on California in the championship game on Sunday at 2:30 pm, in what will be a rematch of the 2005 Classic championship game, won by Cal 58-50 on Dec. 4, 2005.
Kelli Thompson paced the Lady Rebels with 17 points, thanks to a 10-of-12 performance at the free throw line. Jamie Smith posted 13 points, Lenita Sanford and Mia Bell had 12 each, while Markiell Styles came off the bench with 10 points and nine rebounds in front of a hometown crowd.
UNLV never trailed in the game, but could never pull away from PVAM until the final two minutes. Both teams struggled shooting from the floor to start, and both finished the half shooting under 23%. However, UNLV made up for it at the free throw line, making 8-of-10 to help them open up a 24-18 halftime edge. In fact, all four points of the first seven minutes of the game for UNLV came at the line, but they still led 4-2 thanks to strong defense against the Lady Panthers.
PVAM would tie the game twice in the first half, the first at 4-4, but Smith scored four straight points to open up an 8-4 edge at the 11:56 mark. The lead increased to 16-10 thanks to a pair of free throws from Styles, before the Lady Panthers made a run, tying the score at 16-16 on a Larissa Scott jumper with 5:38 to play. Lenita Sanford started a run of seven straight points with two layups, while Rmanii Haynes added a trey for a 23-16 lead, and led by six at the half.
Kiara Etienne opened the second half with a trey to bring the Lady Panthers within three, and the lead was in single digits for the first seven minutes of the second half, until Smith nailed a trey from the corner for a 40-30 UNLV lead at the 12:43 mark. The advantage was 11 before the Lady Panthers used a 9-2 run to close within four, 45-41, with just over nine minutes to play. With UNLV up 52-47, a Smith trey started a 7-2 run, with Sandrine Nzeukou's jumper at 5:09 making it a 59-49 game, and PVAM came no closer then eight the rest of the way.
UNLV finished the game shooting 40.9% (18-of-44), was 6-of-16 from three-point range (37.5%), and made 31-of-35 at the free throw line for 88.6%. The Lady Rebels held a 38-31 edge on the boards, but did turn the ball over 20 times, which lead to a 23-10 edge on points off turnovers for the Lady Panthers.
For PVAM, Williams finished with a game-high 18 points, and Kiara Etienne added 16. Lereahn Washington came off the bench with 10, and Larissa Scott recorded 10 rebounds. The Lady Panthers shot 34.5% (20-of-58) for the game, were 27.3% (3-of-11) from three-point land, and shot 17-of-21 at the free throw line for 81.0%.
