Box Score

CEDAR CITY, Utah (UNLVRebels.com) -

After leading for all but two of the first 36 minutes, UNLV suffered a tough loss as Southern Utah ended the game on a 15-5 run for a 93-84 victory over the Lady Rebels in women's college basketball action from the Huntsman Center on Saturday night.

One of the biggest keys of the game was at the free throw line. Though the Lady Rebels (3-6) were called for a season-high 33 fouls, they ended up with two more free throw attempts then Southern Utah (5-1) with 44. However, UNLV made only 25 of those 44 attempts for a 56.8 percentage. SUU meanwhile was 33-of-42 at the line for 78.6%. That included a 24-of-26 performance in the second half.

UNLV scored 10 of the game's first 12 points, including three-pointers from Diamond Major and Alana Cesarz to go ahead 10-2 just over two minutes into the game. The Thunderbirds slowly climbed back into the contest, cutting the edge down to one at 17-16. UNLV answered with three straight treys, one from Brooke Johnson and two from Danielle Miller. UNLV's largest lead of the game came on an Aley Rohde trey at the 5:54 mark for a 37-25 edge. The halftime margin of 50-44 for UNLV marked its highest first half point total of the season.

SUU opened the second half with five straight points to close within 50-49. Though the Lady Rebs maintained their lead, they couldn't stretch it past six points. That came at 65-59 with 11:51 to play on an Alyssa Anderson layup. The Thunderbirds tied the game with back-to-back treys, and then the teams traded a pair of free throws for a 67-67 contest. SUU's first lead of the game came at 69-68 on an Iva Georgieva layup, that was countered though by five unanswered points from UNLV for a 73-69 edge. The lead stood at 75-71 with under six to play when the home team made five free throws over the next two minutes to one for UNLV, again tying the score at 76-76 with 4:33 on the clock. A layup from SUU was answered by a Miller trey for a 79-78 UNLV edge with 3:36 to play.

That would be the last lead for the game for the Lady Rebels, as SUU converted two free throws and a layup for a three-point edge. After two missed treys by UNLV on its next possession, SUU was fouled and awarded two more free throws after a technical foul was called on UNLV. SUU sank all four attempts to go ahead 86-79 at the 2:13, and the Lady Rebels came no closer the rest of the way.

Cesarz and Miller paced UNLV with 16 points each, while Rohde added 12 points and Briana Charles 11 off the bench. After shooting 50% in the first half, the Lady Rebels made just 11 of their 41 attempts in the second half to finish at 36.2% for the game. It was the same story behind the three point line. UNLV hit 8-of-12 from downtown in the first 20 minutes for 66.7%, and hit on 1 of 13 attempts in the second stance to finish 9-25 for 36%. UNLV did hold a 47-46 edge on the boards, and forced seven steals.

Desiree Jackson and Maarquelle Funk both posted 24 points each to pace the Thunderbirds, while Hailey Mandelko added 14 and Brenna Gates 10. SUU shot 43.5% (27-of-62) for the game and was 6-of-18 from three-point land for 33.3%

UNLV returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 17, when it hosts Northwestern at 4 pm in the Thomas & Mack Center.