LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV dominated the boards and held a second straight opponent to under 60 points and under 35% shooting from the floor in a 66-56 victory over Air Force in front of the fourth-largest crowd in team history Wednesday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center. The official attendance was 3,147, coming on Lady Rebel School Day game as 3rd, 4th and 5th graders from 10 different local elementary schools attended the contest after first taking tours of the UNLV campus.
The Lady Rebels have now won back-to-back Mountain West games to move to 2-2 in league play (4-11 overall), while the Falcons dropped to 5-11, 1-4 in the MW. UNLV claimed the victory despite a slow start to the game after senior starters Paris Strawther and Nikki Wheatley spent a significant portion of the first half on the bench after picking up two fouls each. The two would end up playing a combined 27 minutes, forcing the Lady Rebel bench to play important minutes against the Falcons.
Fortunately for UNLV its bench had one of its best games of the season, highlighted by Latecia Smith's 10 point-point performance while Rodjanae Wade added eight and Kavionnia Brown set a new career-high with seven points and 18 minutes of action in relief of Wheatley at the point.
UNLV started the game with a 14-8 lead, though the Falcons closed with 16-14 at the end of the first quarter. Air Force made a move in the second quarter, as an 8-2 run gave the Falcons their largest lead of the afternoon at 29-24.
THE TURNING POINT: With the Lady Rebels playing a lineup of starter Katie Powell and four bench players, they managed to close out the first half on a 7-0 run to go back ahead 31-29 at the halftime break. The run continued into the second half as Jordyn Bell opened with a trey for 10 straight points, part of an eventual 18-2 run for the Lady Rebels that made the score 42-31 with 3:54 to play in the third. Air Force came no closer then six the rest of the game.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Lady Rebels held a 41-25 advantage on the boards.
LADY REBEL OF THE GAME: Powell, who missed the entire month of December with an ankle injury, posted her first double-double of the year with 19 points and 11 rebounds, both game-highs. She was 9-of-10 from the floor as well.
QUOTABLE: "Today felt like a Mountain West Tournament game, we are in the TMC, we're playing in front of a great crowd. Hopefully the kids had a great time. Great performance today, Katie Powell played excellent, we had other people step up, Latecia Smith, Kavionnia Brown. Right now we're gelling as a team, and we just need to keep continuing to grow and improve in practice each day."
- UNLV head coach Kathy Olivier
LADY REBEL NOTES:
* UNLV has won 13 straight in the all-time series against the Falcons.
* UNLV is 24-0 all-time against Air Force in Las Vegas, and all but one victory was by double-digits.
* The Lady Rebels shot 47.7% (21-of-44) from the floor, and were a season-best 88.5% (23-of-26) at the free throw line.
* UNLV posted a season-high eight blocks.
* The Lady Rebels made one three-pointer (out of five attempts. The team's streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer is now at 124.
NEXT TIME OUT: UNLV will be on the road for a Saturday, Jan. 20 contest at San Jose State. The game tips at 2 pm, and there will be both a live video stream and a radio broadcast available at UNLVRebels.com.
