UNLV roundup: Balanced Lady Rebels rout UNR, notch 20th win

Brooke Johnson and Dakota Gonzalez scored 16 points apiece to lead UNLV past UNR 64-49 in a Mountain West women’s basketball game Saturday in Reno.

With the victory, the Lady Rebels (20-8, 11-5) recorded their second 20-win season in the past 14 years and their first since 2011-12.

Katie Powell scored 11 points and Dylan Gonzalez 10 for UNLV, which didn’t trail after the opening minutes.

Johnson had eight rebounds for the Lady Rebels, who held the Wolf Pack (10-17, 4-12) to 29.6-percent shooting.

BASEBALL

At Wilson Stadium, Ruben Cardenas hit a go-ahead RBI triple in the eighth inning, and Taylor Bryant and Tristan Hildebrandt followed with consecutive run-scoring doubles in Cal State Fullerton’s 4-1 win over UNLV.

Gavin Velasquez (1-0) entered in relief in the third inning for the Titans (3-3), ranked No. 7 by Baseball America, and shut out the Rebels (3-3) on four hits and one walk over 5 1/3 innings.

Bryant finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, helping Fullerton to a 9-6 edge in hits.

Cimarron-Memorial product Larry Quaney started for UNLV and gave up one run on six hits and one walk and struck out five in seven innings.

Freshman Bryson Stott, a Desert Oasis product, went 3-for-4 for the Rebels, who had no extra-base hits.

SOFTBALL

At Honolulu, Alyssa Navarro hit a go-ahead solo home run in the sixth inning to send UNLV to a 5-4 win over Montana in the Hawaii Invitational.

Janine Petmecky hit a two-run homer in the third inning and a sacrifice fly in the first for the Rebels (9-4), who were outhit 8-6.

Morgan Ettinger (8-0) pitched the final two innings and blanked the Grizzlies (4-7) on one hit.

In UNLV’s second game of the day, Heather Cameron hit a three-run homer and Heather Morales a two-run shot to power Hawaii (5-6) to a 6-1 victory.

Dana Thomsen (1-1) held the Rebels to one unearned run on three hits and three walks and struck out nine in seven innings.

TRACK AND FIELD

At Albuquerque, N.M., Taylor Pegram won the 60-meter hurdles in a program-best 8.23 seconds to help UNLV place second in the Mountain West Indoor Championships, matching the program’s best finish since the conference’s first meet in 2000.

The Rebels totaled 99 points in the 11-team event, placing behind only Colorado State, which scored 102½. UNLV’s Yvonne Wade was named coach of the year.

UNLV’s 1,600-meter relay team of Drea Austin, Nylia Hudspeth, Micayla Coquia and Najia Hudspeth ran a season-best time of 3 minutes, 42.52 seconds to place second.

The Rebels also got second-place showings from Kaysee Pilgrim in the high jump (5 feet, 10¾ inches) and Ayana Gales in the triple jump (40 feet, 6¼ inches).

Mandy Chitwood placed third in the 800 with a personal-best time of 2:07.48, and Destiny Smith-Barnett was third in the 60 (7.38) and fourth in the 200 (23.9).

San Diego State was third in the team standings with 79 points, followed by New Mexico (72½), UNR (59), Fresno State (54), Boise State (50), Air Force (43), Utah State (42), Wyoming (36) and San Jose State (23).

MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

At Houston, Tom Paco-Pedroni won the 100-yard freestyle and anchored the victorious 400 freestyle relay team to help UNLV finish fourth in the seven-team Western Athletic Conference Championships.

Paco-Pedroni, who finished the 100 freestyle in 42.85 seconds, teamed with Or Sabatier, Forrest Beesley and Kasey Foley to set a meet record in the 400 freestyle relay in 2 minutes, 52.53 seconds.

Also for the Rebels, Foley tied for second in the 100 freestyle in 43.22 seconds, Jan Kutnik placed fourth in the 1,650 freestyle (15:25.81), Avi Cohen was fourth in the 200 butterfly (1:46.22), and Francois Van Wynsberghe was fifth in the 200 breaststroke (1:59.24).

UNLV totaled 525½ points, trailing Air Force (794½), Wyoming (754) and Grand Canyon (563). North Dakota (357) was fifth, followed by Cal State Bakersfield (300) and Seattle (220).