Lady Rebels keep it closer, still lose
A month to the day after its worst women’s basketball loss in more than 11 years, UNLV made sure Saturday wouldn’t be a replay of the Lady Rebels’ nightmare at Laramie, Wyo.
It wasn’t, but like the previous meeting, the Lady Rebels still couldn’t stop Wyoming’s 3-point shooting attack.
The Cowgirls made 12 of 21 3-pointers to establish early control and cruise to an 88-78 victory at Cox Pavilion.
In the teams’ January meeting, Wyoming made 12 of 26 3-pointers in an 87-39 blowout.
“Our goal was to guard the 3, that we would not give any open 3s,” UNLV coach Regina Miller said. “And we worked all week on the scramble drill to hustle and make sure they were all covered, and tonight it didn’t happen.”
The defeat snapped the Lady Rebels’ 11-game home winning streak against Wyoming (22-4, 10-3 Mountain West Conference). UNLV is 8-17, 4-8.
Though the teams are going in opposite directions, the Lady Rebels didn’t go down without a fight. They consistently answered Wyoming spurts with their own, showing they wouldn’t permit another 48-point loss.
“Coach Miller said we had to make this a game, which I think we did,” said center Shamela Hampton, who led UNLV with 23 points.
But there was never any sense an upset was brewing, not with Wyoming shooting 3-pointers like they were free throws.
Justyna Podziemska made 4 of 7 3-pointers and tied Hanna Zavecz with a team-high 22 points. Jodi Bolerjack scored 19 on 5-of-9 shooting from the 3-point arc. Two other Cowgirls reached double figures.
Four players got there for UNLV. After Hampton, Sequoia Holmes scored 21 points, India Chaney 16 and Dominique Harris 10.
Chaney’s output topped her previous high of four points.
“India Chaney can get it to the rim as good as any guard I’ve ever recruited and coached,” Miller said. “If she goes that hard, she’s going to get more minutes. She earned some playing time today.”