Lady Rebel rally falls short

After trailing by as many as 18 points in the second half, the UNLV Lady Rebels rallied back to within two, but fell 71-63 to San Diego State in a Mountain West Conference tournament semifinal at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday.

Jene Morris had 27 points, five assists and four rebounds for the Aztecs, who got 22 fast break points compared to just four for the Lady Rebels.

San Diego State led by 16 when UNLV’s final rally began. The Lady Rebels got back within two points, but the Aztecs hustled the ball up the court and got a layup to end the rally. UNLV was never again able to get within one possession in a game it never led.

Shamela Hampton had game-highs with 29 points and 11 rebounds in the final game of her career, but it just wasn’t enough.

Jamie Smith ended her impressive freshman campaign with a 9-point, 10-rebound effort.

Paris Johnson, who set a San Diego State record with nine blocked shots in the last meeting with UNLV, blocked seven in this meeting.

The Aztecs will now face Utah as the two top seeds have advanced to tomorrow’s 1 p.m. championship game.

Rough Stretch

UNLV was actually playing fairly well in the second half and had San Diego State’s lead down to just 10 points.

The Lady Rebels had three consecutive awful possessions at that point and the Aztecs converted all three into baskets on the other end of the floor.

Not only did the Lady Rebels not score on any of the three possessions, they never even got a good shot.

All three trips down the floor resulted in off-balance, contested heaves that never really had a chance.

Suddenly, a game where UNLV had an opportunity to get back within single-digits turned back into a 62-46 lead with less than eight minutes to play.

The Lady Rebels then answered with a 9-0 run to get back within seven points, and eventually got within two, but those three bad possessions had made the lead just too large.

Song selection

One great thing about college bands is the diverse array of music they have in their repertoire.

You never know what a band is going to bust out at a collegiate sporting event.

The San Diego State band played the theme song from “The Office” during today’s game.

It’s one of the funniest shows on television today.

But the theme song is fairly innocuous.

It just seems like an odd choice for a band to play at a basketball game.

Whose House II?

Yesterday, the San Diego State band started chanting, “This is our house,” when their men’s team knocked off UNLV.

Today, they did it again and it was even more appropriate.

For the second straight day, the Aztecs had knocked a Rebel team out of the tournament.