LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) — The Lady Rebels just kept finding the answer Wednesday night, and now they'll keep dancing through March.
Top-seeded UNLV outlasted No. 6-seed Colorado State 75-65 to win the Air Force Reserve Mountain West Championship Game for the first time in its history.
It was UNLV's first conference tournament championship—and automatic bid to the NCAA Championship—since winning the Big West in 1994. It will be the Lady Rebels first NCAA tournament appearance since 2002.
Essence Booker was named the tournament's most valuable player after scoring 25 points, perhaps none more vital than her final 3 set up on an inbounds play with 43 seconds to go.
"So I like to give the credit where it's due," UNLV's second-year head women's basketball coach
Lindy La Rocque said. "We actually stole that from Adia Barnes at Arizona. I saw it in one of her games and I was like, 'I'm going to save this one for the very end,' so we put it in actually this week.
"And so we drew it up and they went out there and executed it perfectly. Desi (-Rae Young) set a great screen, they kind of switched out, Kiara (Jackson) made a perfect pass and Essence, you know, put the dagger in 'em."
Colorado State whittled UNLV's 13-point lead in 10 minutes, closing to 62-61 off McKenna Hofschild's and-1 free throw with 4 ½ to play. But much like the season has shown, when their backs were against the wall, the Lady Rebels came out swinging.
Booker corralled her own miss for a second-chance jumper and Jackson made space to drop another.
Hofschild, who scored a tournament record 27 points, scored the next four points for the Rams, but a missed jumper in the paint was wrestled away by Young to setup the pivotal shot.
"Walking to the line," Booker said, "Khayla (Rooks) tapped me on my shoulder and she was like, 'You're going to make this shot.' And I kept telling myself, I'm going to make it, and they ended up doing something defensively that left me wide open and I knocked it down."
"Butter," Rooks replied.
UNLV led 38-31 at halftime. The Lady Rebels shrugged off an 11-2 deficit to run away on a 29-8 run in which all five players on the floor contributed 3 or more points.
Upe Atosu hit back-to-back 3-pointers to catapult Colorado State, but two early fouls limited her to just 11 minutes in the first half. UNLV's
Justice Ethridge limited Atosu to just four more points for the remainder of the game.
Booker was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Young and
Nneka Obiazor, who averaged 13.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in the championship, as well as Atosu and Hofschild.
Young scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Justice Ethridge and Obiazor had nine each.
Khayla Rooks collected eight points and eight rebounds.
"I've cut a lot of nets in my day," La Rocque said. "This one means a lot, maybe the most. With this group, I would do anything for them because I know they would do anything for me. And to say it is one thing, to believe it is another thing, and then to go out there and get the job done is something on a whole another level.
"And that's what they did. So it was...it is really special."
