Lady Rebels fall in MW quarters
This time, it wasn’t the 3-point shot that did in UNLV.
The Lady Rebels have only themselves to blame, going cold at just the wrong time.
They gave up a 10-point run to end the first half and then shot just 27.3 percent in the second 20 minutes as Boise State slowly pulled away.
The 64-46 loss in Tuesday’s quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament at the Thomas &Mack Center resulted in yet another disappointing end to UNLV’s season.
This was the fifth time in six years the Lady Rebels went one-and-out in the conference tournament. UNLV coach Kathy Olivier said the pieces were in place from the administration on down to put a successful team on the court.
“We’ve got to figure this out and not be one-and-done because it’s really, really old,” Olivier said.
UNLV, which was the fifth seed, ended its season on a four-game losing streak and with a 13-17 record, dropping Olivier to 98-121 in her seven seasons at her alma mater. She has two years remaining on her contract, making it almost certain she will return next season.
Olivier will lose all-conference players Danielle Miller and Alana Cesarz as well as Briana Charles, but will bring back everyone else, including freshman starters Nikki Wheatley and Brooke Johnson. Newcomers include highly touted twins Dakota and Dylan Gonzalez, transfers from Kansas, to go with a top-50 recruiting class.
But in a down Mountain West this season, the Lady Rebels had talent, and two weeks ago no other team was playing better. Then after a five-game winning streak, they hit a three-game skid to close the regular season. All the momentum was gone.
“I thought we were flat (Tuesday), which was weird to me because it’s tournament time,” Olivier said.
UNLV, though, was in the game early, taking a 22-20 lead on Johnson’s 3-pointer with 2:49 left in the first half. The Broncos then went on a 10-point run to close the half.
They switched from zone to man-to-man defense in the second half, and never gave up the lead as the Lady Rebels struggled to score. This was UNLV’s lowest scoring game since losing 55-43 to Colorado State on Feb. 7.
Boise State’s defense was particularly effective against Miller and Cesarz, who combined to average 34.4 points per game entering Tuesday. Cesarz made 5 of 13 shots and finished with 14 points against the Broncos, and Miller totaled 13 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
“I just feel like we could have executed down the stretch a little better,” Miller said. “It starts with (the) seniors. I’ll take the blame for myself. I felt like I could have been a lot smarter down the stretch for us and our team.”
UNLV at least didn’t fall victim to the 3-point shot. After giving up at least 50-percent shooting on 3s in each of the final three games, the Lady Rebels held Boise State to 33.3 percent.
It was little consolation, though.
“It’s hard to end on this kind of note,” Olivier said. “I really actually enjoyed this group of players. We had one run in the season. I thought this team was always going to pull it out, they were always going to find a way, get it done.”
Fourth-seeded Boise State (20-10) next plays No. 8 San Jose State (15-16) at 6 p.m. today. The Spartans pulled off a 64-55 victory over top seed Colorado State (23-7).
Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.