Jan. 21, 2012
Box Score
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV used a 24-6 run at the end of the first half and beginning of the second to take control on the way to claiming a win at The Pit for the third straight year, 64-50 over New Mexico on Saturday afternoon in Mountain West women's basketball action. With the win, the Lady Rebels' moved to 15-5 overall and are 3-1 in the conference, including 3-0 in MW road games. UNM meanwhile dropped to 6-12, 0-4 in the league.
New Mexico opened up hitting three of its first five from the floor for a 9-3 edge four minutes in. UNLV then took advantage of its size in the paint, as an 8-0 run off four layups gave the Lady Rebels their first lead of the game. New Mexico grabbed the edge back twice, leading by three at 14-11, and again at 17-14 on a layup by Jayme Jackson at the 9:53 mark. Jamie Smith answered on the other end with a trey, the first of nine unanswered points for UNLV. The Lady Rebels would actually outscore the Lobos by an 18-6 margin over the final 9:43 of the opening stanza, taking a 32-23 lead into halftime. Smith finished the half with 11 points, nine off three treys, while UNM was held to just 29.6% from the floor (8-of-27).
UNLV kept up the scoring coming out of halftime, posting the first six points of the second half. A layup from Sandrine Nzeukou gave UNLV a 38-23 edge with 18:18 to play. The lead would remain between eight-15 points for the Lady Rebels for the next nine minutes of the game. The Lobos took advantage of a scoring drought by UNLV to slowly climb back into the contest, and a jumper from Caroline Durbin made it a 47-41 score with 7:34 left on the clock.
The Lobos were still hanging in the game after Durbin scored on a layup cut UNLV's lead to 50-43 at the 5:31 mark. The Lady Rebels then took over from downtown, as back-to-back-to-back treys from Smith, Kelli Thompson and Mia Bell pushed the advantage back to 59-43 with under three to play. Bell added another trey at the 1:31 mark, and UNLV would close out the 14-point road victory. The final win margin was the largest over the Lobos since a 68-45 win in Las Vegas on Feb. 27, 2003, and was by the second largest margin ever for UNLV at The Pit, trailing only a 70-55 win on Feb. 17, 1980.
Smith led all scorers with 17 points and she added nine rebounds, while Markiell Styles posted a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds in her third start of the season. Nzeukou and Bell both added eight, and Alana Cesarz posted nine off the bench. UNLV shot 41% (25-of-61) for the game, was 7-of-21 from three-point range for 33.3%, and 7-of-9 at the free throw line for 77.8%. The Lady Rebs held a 32-30 edge on the boards, and a 21-8 advantage on second chance points.
Lauren Taylor paced the Lobos with 13 points, and Durbin added 10. The Lobos shot 42.2% (19-of-45), were 4-of-11 from three-point land for 36.4%, and 8-of-10 at the free throw line for 80%. UNM was forced into 21 turnovers, resulting in 19 UNLV points.
UNLV returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 25, with just its third home game of the month, hosting new conference member Boise State at 7 pm in the Cox Pavilion.
