Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (UNLVRebels.com) -

For the third straight game UNLV had its struggles shooting from the floor, knocking down just 15-of-50 field goal attempts in a 62-49 setback at Utah in women's college basketball action from the Huntsman Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Lady Rebels' troubles started right from the go, hitting only three of their first 10 shots of the game. The third basket, a layup from Alana Cesarz at the 12:35 mark, brought UNLV within 11-9. After a 5-0 Ute run, UNLV knocked down back-to-back jumpers to again close within a basket, 16-13 with 9:47 to play. That was the last field goal for the Lady Rebels for the next 8:34 of the game, and during that span they missed 10 straight shots. Utah managed to post 10 points during that stretch, and went up 26-15 on a Cheyenne Wilson trey with 1:39 on the first half clock. UNLV ended the half with five straight points, a trey from Danielle Miller and two free throws from Nikki Wheatley to go into halftime down 26-20.

The second half started with UNLV missing its first five shots while Utah scored eight of the first 11 points to open a 34-23 lead just over three minutes after halftime. UNLV never came closer then eight points the rest of the way, the last time at 42-34 with 10:12 to play in the game on a Danielle Miller jumper. Utah answered with a three-pointer to go back up by 11, and increased its lead to as high as 14, 58-44, before settling for the final win margin of 62-49.

Miller paced the Lady Rebels with 17 points while Cesarz was next in scoring with 11 points, though the two were held to 7-of-29 shooting from the floor. Wheatley came off the bench to post career-highs in points (nine) and steals (five). As a team, UNLV finished with a 30.0% field goal percentage, was 3-of-9 from three-point range for 33.3% and 16-of-21 at the free throw line for 76.2%.

Wilson was the star of the game for Utah, coming off the bench with new career-highs of 14 points and four three-pointers made, all four of which came in the first half. Joining her in double-figures was Danielle Rodriguez with 11 and Taryn Wicijowski with 10. Utah shot 42% (21-of-50) for the game, was 8-of-12 from three-point land for 38.1% and a perfect 12-of-12 at the line. The Utes held a 35-32 edge on the boards, and limited UNLV to just six total offensive rebounds and two second chance points. The Lady Rebels had entered the game averaging almost 18 offensive rebounds per contest.

UNLV returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 13, with a 6 pm (PT) contest at Southern Utah in Cedar City.