FORT COLLINS, Colorado (UNLVRebels.com) - Colorado State's Lauren Brocke hit a game-winning three-pointer with 22 seconds left in the game while UNLV came up short with its final two shots as the Lady Rebels suffered a heartbreaking loss Wednesday night by a score of 52-49 in the Mountain West women's basketball opener for both schools at Moby Arena. In a thrilling game that came down to the end with three lead changes and a tie in the final minutes, the Rams were able to seal the victory with a pair of free throws with seven seconds to play. Latecia Smith's shot at the buzzer for UNLV would bounce off the rim.
The game saw a series of runs between both teams, as UNLV used a 7-0 run to open at 12-5 edge in the final minutes of the opening quarter. CSU responded with a 10-0 spurt of its own for a 15-12 advantage, and the Rams would take a 21-19 lead into the halftime break.
UNLV came out strong in the third quarter, allowing just one basket over the first five minutes on the way to opening up a 28-23 advantage.
THE TURNING POINT: Though UNLV would hold a lead in the final minute, the key stretch for the Rams came at the midway point of the third quarter. After Katie Powell drained a jumper for a 30-27 UNLV advantage, the Rams scored 10 unanswered points in an 84-second span. That gave the home team a 37-30 advantage with 1:17 to play.
THE FINAL MINUTES: UNLV climbed back into the game thanks to a series of three-pointers, the last of which from Alyssa Anderson, her third of the final quarter, gave UNLV a 47-45 advantage at the 2:10 mark. The Lady Rebels had the chance to put the game away after grabbing an defensive board with under a minute to go, but was called for an foul off the ball, giving the Rams a pair of free throws that they sank to tie the game at 47-47. Powell banked in a layup for UNLV with 37 seconds to go for a 49-47 lead, until Brocke hit her shot from the left side for a 50-49 lead. Powell then missed a baseline jumper and UNLV was forced to foul with seven seconds to go.
LADY REBEL OF THE GAME: Alyssa Anderson came off the bench for a season-high nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range. She also added three rebounds.
QUOTABLE: "We started conference on the road and its always tough to go and battle on the road in conference. We knew it would be a low scoring game, we knew it would be a defensive battle. Our team has been fighting hard in each game, I can't say enough about our effort, we're continuing to work hard and the Lady Rebels aren't going to go away."
- UNLV head coach Kathy Olivier
LADY REBEL NOTES:
* UNLV's starting frontcourt of Powell and Paris Strawther made their return to the lineup after injuries sidelined them for the majority of the non-conference season. They combined for 14 points and 12 rebounds in their return.
* Three Lady Rebels finished with nine points to pace the team in scoring - Nikki Wheatley, Powell and Anderson.
* UNLV was held to 30% shooting from the floor (18-of-60) and made just 5-of-25 from three-point range (20%), while the Rams hit 5-of-17 (29.4%) from downtown.
* UNLV lost despite winning the battle of the boards 38-36 and turning the ball over 15 times to 17 for CSU.
* CSU was a perfect 9-9 at the free throw line, while UNLV was 8-of-11 (72.7%).
* UNLV's losing streak in Fort Collins is now at nine, as the team last beat the Rams in the 2007-08 season.
NEXT TIME OUT: UNLV will remain on the Front Range as it travels to Laramie to face the Wyoming Cowgirls on Saturday at 1 pm (PT). The game will have a live video stream and a radio broadcast, both of which can be found on UNLVRebels.com.
