Box Score

HONOLULU, Hawaii (UNLVRebels.com) -

Power won over quickness on Friday night as the UNLV Lady Rebels suffered their first loss of the season to a much bigger Missouri squad, 79-60 in the first game of the Bank of America Rainbow Wahine Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UNLV was outrebounded by 21 and connected on only 31.8% of its shots from the floor as it fell to 2-1 on the year. Missouri meanwhile improved to 3-0. If there was a bright spot for the Lady Rebels, they did outscore Missouri 36-31 in the second half, while the 19-point difference was the lowest win margin of the season for the Tigers after posting wins of 37 and 46 in their first two games.

"After the first five minutes we settled down and the second half was much better," said UNLV head coach Kathy Oliver. ""We were more aggressive, our post players battled, especially Aley Rohde and Jazmyne Bartee. While we won the second half, the reality is we need to make our easy shots and our free throws to beat a team like Missouri."

Senior Danielle Miller turned in her third straight 20+ point performance of the year to pace the Lady Rebels, notching 23 points on 9-of-23 shooting. She also recorded a career-high six steals, half of the Lady Rebels' 12 on the game. That helped UNLV force 21 turnovers by the Tigers, which led to a 21-11 edge on points off turnovers. However that wasn't enough to offset the 24-13 second chance points advantage or the 40-28 edge on points in the paint Missouri finished the night with.

Missouri hit three of its first four shots for a 7-0 edge less then two minutes in, and went ahead 19-4 on a three-pointer from Juanita Robinson with 13:19 to go in the first half. UNLV finally found its groove on offense, scoring six straight to close within 19-10 at the 11:08 mark on a layup from Alana Cesarz. The Lady Rebels cut the edge to nine twice more in the half, the last at 8:31 on a Miller steal and layup.

The Tigers then took over with a 19-6 spurt over the next 6:44 of the contest, going ahead 42-20 on a Jordan Frericks jumper at the 1:45 mark. Missouri then scored the final five points of the half for a 48-24 halftime edge.

In the second half it was fairly even between the teams. Missouri's biggest advantage came at the 14:44 mark, 61-34, while UNLV twice cut the margin under 20, at 75-57 with under two minutes ago, while Alana Cesarz's trey in the final 30 seconds accounted for the final margin.

Fericks paced Missouri with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Sierra Michaelis added 14 and Kayla McDowell 11. The Tigers shot 44.3% from the floor and made seven three-pointers on the night.

UNLV will close out action in the tournament by taking on host Hawaii on Sunday night at 9 pm (PT).