LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) -

Box Score

UNLV rallied from six points down in the second half, closing the game on a 28-7 run to claim a 91-76 victory over Loyola Marymount in women's college basketball action Monday night in the Cox Pavilion. An impressive performance by their post players helped the Lady Rebels improve to 2-0 on the year, while LMU dropped to 0-2 overall.

A year ago the Lions claimed a 71-67 win in Los Angeles, mostly due to their 23 offensive rebounds. UNLV turned that completely around this time, outrebouding LMU by a 57-36 margin. That included a 29-8 edge on the offensive boards, leading to a 23-9 edge on second chance points.

The Lady Rebel front court was responsible for the majority of that damage, as they were one rebound away from having three players finish with double-doubles. Alana Cesarz paced the way with 22 points and 10 rebounds, Amie Callaway posted 13 points and 13 rebounds off the bench, and Aley Rohde added 10 points and nine rebounds.

"Our post players had some great boards in the game and I was really happy with all of their performances," said UNLV head coach Kathy Olivier. "I thought we were hungry for the rebounds tonight, and the box score tells the story there. Defensively we picked it up in the second half, and to hold them without a point for over five minutes, that was very impressive."

LMU started out both halves with leads before the Lady Rebels came roaring back. The first half saw the Lions open up a four-point edge in the first four minutes, 8-4, and led 13-11 at the 13:54 mark thanks to a jumper from Deanna Johnson. UNLV countered with four straight points from Callaway that started a 12-2 spurt. Nikki Wheatley's layup capped the spurt for a 23-15 edge with just under 11 minutes left in the half. LMU stayed close though, cutting the edge down to one three times in the final four minutes of the half. Callaway hit a free throw and Danielle Miller nailed a trey from the corner in the last minute to put UNLV ahead 46-41 at halftime.

A three-pointer and a three-point play for the Lions to open the second half gave them a 47-46 edge. The lead then switched hands four times over the next four minutes. After Callaway tied the score going one-for-two at the line, Emily Ben-Jumbo sparked a 7-1 run for the Lions. Her layup with 12:21 left gave LMU their largest lead of the game at six, 62-56.

Sophie Taylor hit the ninth trey of the night for the Lions to make the score 67-63 with 10:16 on the clock. That would be the last LMU point for the next five minutes of the contest, while UNLV ran off 11 unanswered to grab a 74-67 edge. Briana Charles came off the bench to help spark the run, as following a Rohde layup, she knocked down a jumper, grabbed a rebound and fed Miller for a layup. Layups from Rohde and Nikki Wheatley finished the run for UNLV.

LMU didn't go away easily, scoring five straight to make it a one-possession game, 77-74 with 5:22 to play. UNLV closed out the Lions by scoring 14 of the last 16 points of the game to run away with its second win of the year.

Miller was the fourth player in double-figures for UNLV with 21 points. The Lady Rebels shot 39.2% from the floor (31-of-79), 21.7% from three-point range (21.7%), and made 24-of-39 at the line for 61.5%. UNLV's final rebound margin was 57-36, while they forced 21 turnovers and came up with 11 steals.

All five LMU starters finished in double figures, but the bench scored just seven to 31 points by the Lady Rebel reserves. Johnson paced the visitors with 21 points and Leslie Lopez-Wood notched 17 after hitting 5-of-9 from three-point range. After shooting 61.5% in the first half, LMU was held to 30.6% in the second for 43.5% (27-of-62) for the night. The Lions made 9-of-24 from downtown (37.5%) and were 13-of-14 at the line for 92.9%.

UNLV will return to action this weekend in the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Lady Rebels begin play by facing Missouri on Friday at 6:30 pm (PT) before closing out action by taking on the host Hawaii school on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 9 pm (PT).