CANYON, Texas (UNLVRebels.com) — Texas Tech held off UNLV's fourth-quarter charge to defeat the Lady Rebels 68-61 Sunday afternoon on the campus of West Texas A&M University.
UNLV stifled Texas Tech's offense and overcame lackluster shooting to close a 13-point deficit to 2 with 42 seconds to play.
"We fought hard and just missed too many shots," UNLV head women's basketball coach
Lindy La Rocque said. "It was a really competitive game for 40 minutes and something that we'll go back and dissect and work on, but really, really proud of the way this team fought."
Desi-Rae Young scored a team-high 19 points, the last 2 coming from a coast-to-coast layup that cut the Lady Raiders' advantage to 61-59. Young was then booked for a technical foul on Texas Tech's ensuing inbounds, allegedly making a taunting motion while alone on the floor following a collision.
Texas Tech's Lexi Hightower converted two technical free throws but missed a layup on the following free possession, and was out-muscled to the rebound by UNLV freshman
Kenadee Winfrey.
Kiara Jackson's jumper rattled the rim as did
Khayla Rooks' second-chance putback. Rooks raced in front of Bryn Gerlich's outlet pass—one of 19 Texas Tech turnovers—and dished to Jackson for UNLV's final points.
Vivian Gray, who scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting, swished her pull-up jumper and
Essence Booker's counter attack bounced long. Down 66-61 with 18 seconds to play, UNLV fouled to preserve time. The Lady Raiders finished 3-of-4 at the free throw line as they crept away with the victory.
Booker totaled 13 points and five assists. Rooks counted 11, boosted by 3-of-6 3-point shooting, and Jackson added 8.
Texas Tech shot 50 percent from the field while UNLV managed 37 percent.
A crowd of 1,883 filled the First Union Bank Center for the homecoming of Winfrey, a Canyon, Texas, native and six members of the Lady Raiders who have ties with the community.
"This felt like an NCAA Tournament game—it was electric," La Rocque said. "We knew we'd be walking into a hornets' nest with a lot of (Texas) Tech fans and maybe some of Kenadee's friends and family cheering for us."
Winfrey posted a career-high 21 minutes in her first career collegiate start. The freshman guard rebounded from early foul trouble to change the momentum of the game in the second half. Winfrey totaled three points, six rebounds and two assists. She proved to be a thorn in the side of Texas Tech, deflecting four passes out of bounds and forcing two turnovers on trap plays.
Hightower, a transfer from West Texas A&M, was held to 5 points on 1-of-5 shooting.
Texas Tech led 37-27 at halftime.
UNLV returns to the Cox Pavilion Saturday, Dec. 18, for a 2 p.m. tip off against Pacific University.Â
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