FRESNO, California (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV battled Fresno State for the first three quarters and entered the fourth quarter with a one-point lead Saturday afternoon, but the Lady Rebels then went stone cold from the floor in the final quarter on the way to a 73-55 road loss in the Save Mart Center in Mountain West women's basketball action. The loss dropped UNLV to 5-6 in league play, tied for fifth with Utah State, while the Bulldogs improved to 8-3 in the MW.
UNLV was ahead 49-48 at the end of the third quarter, and had shot 48.8% from the floor up to that point. What followed was the worst shooting performance in a quarter in school history for the Lady Rebels, as they missed all 13 shots they attempted from the floor. UNLV would score just six points, all at the free throw line. On the other side, Fresno State had also shot 48.8% after three quarters, but exploded in the fourth by knocking down 8-of-11 from the floor. That lead to the Bulldogs winning the fourth by a 25-6 margin.
The game had been close throughout the first 30 minutes. The largest lead of the first quarter came when UNLV hit a jumper at the buzzer by Nikki Wheatley for a 19-15 lead. The Bulldogs opened up a three-point lead twice in the second quarter, until Alyssa Anderson hit a buzzer-beating trey to make the score 37-37 at halftime. UNLV used a 9-0 in the third quarter to go back ahead, at one point holding the Bulldogs scoreless for a 6:24 span.
THE TURNING POINT: It was a one-point lead for Fresno State after Nikki Wheatley hit one-of-two at the line for UNLV to make the score 53-52 at the 8:23 mark. The Lady Rebels did not get on the scoreboard again for the next five minutes, and the Bulldogs would score 13 unanswered points, 11 from the pair of Aly Gamez and Candice White. Fresno State at one point scored on six of seven possessions for a 66-52 advantage at the 4:13 mark.
QUOTABLE: "I thought it was a really good game for three quarters, fourth quarter they just got the best of us. They hit a couple of threes against our zone, and they are just a steady basketball team, they have a lot of options and we ran out of gas when they started their run. I thought we did some good things today, we didn't get the ball to our posts as much as we wanted to. Fresno State played a slow game and we lost our patience a little when we were behind in the fourth."
- UNLV head coach Kathy Olivier
LADY REBEL NOTES:
* Katie Powell led UNLV with 17 points, while Wheatley added 15. The rest of the starting lineup only added seven points though.
* Wheatley moved up to 18th place on the all-time scoring list at UNLV with 1,237 in her career, passing Sherry McCracklin (2001-06).
* The leading scorer off the bench was Latecia Smith with seven. Fresno native Rodjanae Wade finished with six points and six rebounds.
* The all-time series between the two teams is now tied at 18-18.
* UNLV's streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer is now at 130 after going 5-of-18 from behind the arc for 27.8%.
NEXT TIME OUT: UNLV is on the road in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for a Wednesday, Feb. 13 contest against the Air Force Falcons with a 6 pm (PT) tip. There will be both a live video stream and radio broadcast of the contest, available on UNLVRebels.com.
