FULLERTON, California (UNLVRebels.com) – Head coach Lindy La Rocque earned her first career victory in big fashion Wednesday, as UNLV's sister duo of senior Bailey Thomas and freshman Jade Thomas combined for 42 points and the Lady Rebels tied a school record with 12 made three-pointers in an 81-67 win at Cal State Fullerton in Titan Gym.
                              
After struggling to get shots off with four turnovers in the opening minutes of the game, the Lady Rebels' offensive outburst began with a trio of threes, two from the younger Thomas and one from sophomore Delaynie Byrne, en route to their first lead of the game at 11-10. The quick burst was part of a UNLV 12-4 run over the span of 5:21 for a Lady Rebel 18-12 lead going into the last two minutes of the first quarter. The Titans, however, would respond with their own scoring spurt with a quarter-ending 5-0 run to chip away at the UNLV lead, which stood at 18-17 going into the second quarter.
 
UNLV stretched its lead to the biggest of the game at 62-37 with 4:37 remaining in the third quarter. Despite facing a 20-point deficit, Cal State Fullerton went on a 25-14 run to pull to within 12 at 74-62 and outscored the Lady Rebels during the final quarter, but could never close within single digits.
 
Turning Point: In spite of Cal State Fullerton's attempt to shift momentum with a 22-20 lead to open the second quarter, UNLV continued its hot shooting from beyond the arc as it reeled off another trio of threes on a 14-2 run to take a 34-24 lead with 4:13 to go in the first half. Following a three by junior Nia Johnson that put the Lady Rebels up for good at 23-22, Bailey and Jade Thomas added an extra trey each during the run. The Thomas duo splashed home two more of their six first half three-point makes during the final 2:37 of the second quarter, as the Lady Rebels extended their second-quarter spurt to 24-9 for a 44-31 halftime lead behind the pair's 19 combined points.
 
Lady Rebel of the Game: The older of the Thomas sisters, Bailey Thomas finished the game with an unblemished 6-of-6 three-point shooting clip, along with a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and 4-of-4 at the free throw line, en route to career-high 26 points to lead all Lady Rebels. During her shooting spree, Thomas erupted for 15 points in the third quarter and nearly outscored the Titans, who as a team scored 16 points in the entire quarter. Her six three-point makes fell just one shy of tying the UNLV record from three-point range.
 
Stat of the Game:  Nearly all of the program-record tying 12 threes came from the Thomas family, as Jade Thomas' four treys gave the splash duo 10 for the contest. Along with Johnson's make from deep to start their second quarter run, Byrne was the first Lady Rebel on the board in the game with her three-pointer in the first quarter. 
 
Quotable: "We are very excited about this win. I just can't praise my team enough for playing their hearts out, offensively and defensively. I think at the end of the game we would have liked to have a little bit of a stronger finish, in terms of executing better. But we did a lot of really good and positive things today. My shoutout goes to Bailey (Thomas). Offensively, she had a perfect game and she was just on fire. Then defensively, she really led our team, picked up their point guard and was really disruptive. But I think the thing I'm most proud of is her leadership, being vocal, instructing and leading her teammates on our good plays and when there were plays we could have done better. I'm super proud of her and it was a total team effort – off the bench, on the court – everyone really contributed to this. So, it was a very memorable night for me, with the first win of my coaching career, one that I will remember forever and I'm so excited that I can share it with this group of players, coaching staff, support staff and everyone here (at UNLV)." -UNLV Head Coach Lindy La Rocque
 
Lady Rebel Notes:
*- The UNLV bench continues to add a spark for the Lady Rebels, as it outscored Cal State Fullerton 27-19 behind double-digit outings from sophomore forward Anna Blount with 12 points and freshman forward Desi-Rae Young with 10 points. It marked the first double-digit scoring performance of Blount's career, and the second straight in as many career games for Young.
*- Blount's and Young's offensive production off the sidelines gave the Lady Rebels at least four double-digit scorers for the second straight game
*-UNLV was able to turn their defense stops into extra offense, turning 25 turnovers by the Titans into 27 points on the other end.
*-Out of the Lady Rebel forced turnovers, UNLV concluded the contest with 12 takeaways. Young had five steals, Bailey Thomas and Keyana Wilfred added four swipes each while Blount and Byrne tallied three to pave the way as UNLV's steal leaders.
*-The Lady Rebels showed their effectiveness sharing the ball with an assist on over half their made shots, finishing with 12 dimes on their 23 made field goals for the game. Bailey Thomas, Young, Byrne, and Jasmine Singleton each tallied two assists to tie for the UNLV team lead.