TCU’s talented trio too much for Lady Rebels

The Lady Rebels made things interesting at the end but couldn't overcome big nights from Texas Christian's top three players in a 71-64 Mountain West Conference loss Wednesday at Cox Pavilion.

Emily Carter and Helena Sverrisdottir combined for nine 3-pointers and 40 points and Starr Crawford had 18 points and 18 rebounds for the Horned Frogs (16-8, 8-2 MWC), who never trailed.

UNLV cut a 22-point second-half deficit to five with 13 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Kelli Thompson, who led the Lady Rebels (9-15, 2-8) with 19 points. But Carter sank two free throws with nine seconds left.

"We had a fight to us we haven't seen in the last two games," UNLV coach Kathy Olivier said. "We hit some shots down the stretch and played with some fire and intensity we need to play with against other teams."

It was the fourth straight loss and eighth in 10 games for the Lady Rebels, who shot 4-for-29 in the first half and finished 14-for-64 (21.9 percent) from the field but sank 25 of 30 free throws.

UNLV went on a 10-0 run in the first half to pull within 21-20. But the Horned Frogs finished the half on an 11-2 run to take a 32-22 lead and weren't threatened again until the final seconds.

Carter, who led all scorers with 23 points, hit consecutive 3s in the second half to spark a 14-0 run by TCU, which took a 57-35 lead with 7:18 to play.

Sverrisdottir, the reigning MWC Player of the Year, hit consecutive 3s to cap the run and made all six shots she took, including five from 3-point range, to finish with 17 points.

Erica Helms had 16 points and Sandrine Nzeukou 10 rebounds for UNLV, which finished the game on a 29-14 run.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354.