LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) — The Lady Rebels lacked their customary second-half surge and fell 71-64 to UNR in both teams' regular-season finale Wednesday night at the Cox Pavilion.

UNLV (23-6 overall, 15-3 Mountain West) and UNR (19-10, 11-6) played through six ties and eight lead changes before the Wolf Pack took over for good with a 14-4 scoring run with eight minutes to play.

"Every game from here on out is going to come down to single possessions," UNLV head coach Lindy La Rocque said. "A single stop, a bucket here, a rebound—that's what it comes down to.

"They had some critical offensive rebounds in the second half that pushed a one-possession game to two, then three, and then we were scratching and clawing to get back into it."

The Wolf Pack counted 21 second-chance points from 16 offensive rebounds, the most the Lady Rebels have given away this year.

Desi-Rae Young and Alyssa Durazo-Frescas scored 14 each to lead UNLV. Nia Alexander scored 26 points to lead UNR.

UNR's victory split the Silver State Series, the all-sports competition between the two schools sponsored by IBEW and Nevada Donor Network, for women's basketball at one win apiece.

"Every game we play, we want to win. It stings, it hurts. We're not happy. But this loss doesn't define our whole season. It doesn't take away that we won the regular-season championship. 

"I'm confident our team is going to respond in the right way."

For the first time, UNLV carries the No. 1 seed into next week's Mountain West Conference Championship. The Lady Rebels will play the winner of No. 8 Fresno State and No. 9 Utah State Monday, March 7, at noon at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Lady Rebels still managed smiles after the game as a capacity crowd watched the team formally accept the Mountain West regular-season championship trophy from conference commissioner Craig Thompson, and celebrated the program's senior members, forward Khayla Rooks and student manager Naomi Alvarado.