LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) — The Lady Rebels celebrated taking sole possession of the Mountain West regular-season championship on the court they'll return to in March as the favorite to defend a conference tournament championship.

No. 23 UNLV (25-2 overall, 15-0 Mountain West) defeated San Jose State (3-22, 1-13) 77-60 Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. The victory gave UNLV the claim to the regular-season title and the No. 1 seed for the Mountain West Championship, which will take place on the same court in 2 ½ weeks.

"Winning is really hard. We've done it pretty well here so its easy to take it for granted," UNLV Head Coach Lindy La Rocque said. "When you have little victories, big victories—whatever they are—you've got to remember to celebrate them.

"I think winning the regular-season is really hard. It takes a consistent commitment to effort, concentration and focus and a mindset that not many people have. This group does. I'm excited because they're not done."

It's UNLV's first time winning back-to-back regular-season championships since the late Jim Bolla's squads captured the top spot in the 1989 and 1990 Big West standings.

UNLV improved its winning streak to 16 consecutive games. It's Division I women's basketball's second-longest active winning streak behind No. 1 South Carolina's 38-straight victories.

Perhaps it was the unfamiliar environment or the season's largest crowd, but UNLV struggled to pull away from the Spartans in the early going.

La Rocque called a timeout with 4 minutes into  the second period to settle her team. The Lady Rebels finished the half with a 15-0 scoring run. Alyssa Brown scored 8 during the span and was perfect in the first half, 6-for-6 from the field for 12 points and 8 rebounds.

"We just didn't like the flow of the game. We were playing too passive and letting them dictate tempo. We wanted to turn our press on to get back to a rhythm that we know."

UNLV led 37-18 at halftime.

Brown finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Desi-Rae Young recorded her 15th double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Essence Booker scored four points and set a career-high with 12 assists.

UNLV next hosts Utah State on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 6:30 p.m. at the Cox Pavilion.