LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV's Nikki Wheatley scored nine of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lady Rebels past Florida 56-53 Friday afternoon in the consolation game of the Duel In The Desert Rebel Division from Cox Pavilion. That broke a six-game losing streak for UNLV, while it was the Lady Rebels' second win over a SEC squad in the past three years.

UNLV started the game strong, taking a 15-9 edge with three minutes left in the first quarter. The Lady Rebels then went cold from the floor, and made just two field goals in the second quarter. That contributed to a 8:11 scoreless drought during which the Gators reeled off 12 straight points for a 21-15 advantage. UNLV closed the half with five of the last seven points to go into halftime down 23-20.

THE TURNING POINT: A three-pointer from the Gators put them up by six to start the third quarter, but after the teams traded baskets, UNLV used an 11-0 spurt to go up 33-28 with just 1:47 left in the quarter. The Lady Rebels forced four turnovers and six missed shots by the Gators over that stretch, and UF only held the lead once more the rest of the way, for a 21-second span.

THE FINAL MINUTE:  UNLV lead by four and was able to run the clock down to 23 seconds after grabbing an offensive rebound. Jordyn Bell went 1-for-2 at the line to push the edge up to 52-47. A pair of three-point plays, one convention and one three-pointer, made it a two-point game twice, at 52-50 and against at 55-53. Wheatley made one-of-two at the line with 10 seconds to play, and Florida's last-second attempt was way off the mark.

STAT OF THE GAME: Hawaii outscored UNLV by 12 points from three-point range after going 7-of-19 for 36.8%. The Lady Rebels hit just 3-of-15, and all three came from freshman Justice Ethridge (nine points).

LADY REBEL OF THE GAME: Wheatley led all scorers with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and made 6-of-9 at the charity stripe. She also collected five rebounds and four assists while recording three steals.

QUOTABLE: "We came out in the second half on a good flow, we moved the ball, we had confidence, we continued to attack. Nikki really put us on her back tonight, Jordyn Bell and RJ Wade both had good second halves as well. We have different people stepping up and its been good for us."
- UNLV head coach Kathy Olivier

LADY REBEL NOTES:
* UNLV's victory was its second over a team from the SEC in the past three years, as the Lady Rebels took down Ole Miss in the 2016-17 season, before falling to Mississippi State in the 2017 Duel In The Desert. All three games were in Las Vegas.
* UNLV is now 2-0 all-time against Florida, and both games have come in UNLV home tournaments. The Lady Rebels improved to 15-15 all-time against teams from the SEC.
* The six-game losing streak snapped by the win was the longest for UNLV since the 2014-15 season.
* UNLV's defense was key to the victory, as the Lady Rebels held a +10 turnover margin (19-9), which lead to an 18-8 edge on points off turnovers. The nine turnovers was easily a new season-low for UNLV, as the previous low was 13 against Hawaii.
* Joining Wheatley in double-figures was Bell with 10, while Latecia Smith was the highest scorer off the bench with eight.
* UNLV is currently playing without two of its top three returnees from last year, as senior center and leading scorer Katie Powell (right ankle) has been sidelined since the first half of the game against USC (Dec. 1). Senior forward Paris Strawther (broken left pinky) has been out since the UC Irvine game (Nov. 13). Both are expected to return at some point during the conference season.

NEXT TIME OUT: UNLV is off for the Christmas break before returning to action with the Mountain West conference opener Wednesday, Jan. 2 at 6 pm in Fort Collins, Colorado against the Colorado State Rams.