No. 20 Utah breezes past Lady Rebels
Leilani Mitchell scored 20 of her 26 points in the second half Wednesday to help No. 20 Utah post its 14th consecutive victory, 82-53 over the UNLV women at Cox Pavilion.
Mitchell, the Utes’ leading scorer with a 16.9 average, scored the first 20 of their 29 second-half points. At that point, Utah led 67-50 with 3:29 left. The Utes then went on a 15-3 run to end the game.
Mitchell also led Utah (19-3, 8-0 Mountain West Conference) with 10 assists. Kalee Whipple added 21 points and Morgan Warburton 19.
UNLV (6-15, 2-6) was led by Sequoia Holmes with 17 points. Dominique Harris scored 14 and Shamela Hampton 10 for the Lady Rebels.
Utah led 33-30 at halftime. Whipple had 13 first-half points, including three 3-pointers.
The Utes and Lady Rebels each had 9-0 runs during the first half.
Utah trailed 10-7 before going ahead 16-7 on its 9-0 run that ended with 13 minutes remaining. Warburton, Katie King and Whipple each scored three points during that run.
UNLV’s 9-0 run occurred after Utah had taken its biggest lead of the first half at 27-14. The Lady Rebels narrowed the margin to 27-23 with 3:20 left when Holmes finished that run with a three-point play.
Allison Holiday’s 3-pointer at the buzzer allowed the Lady Rebels to trim the Utes’ lead to three at the half.