UNLV comes up short

All the Lady Rebels need for Christmas is a free throw or a layup.

They couldn't come up with either during the crucial closing minutes of their 70-68 loss to Liberty in the title game of the Lady Rebel Christmas Classic on Friday night at Cox Pavilion.

Sequoia Holmes and Shamela Hampton helped bring UNLV (4-7) back from an 11-point second-half deficit to tie the Lady Flames (11-1) with 3:09 to play, but both players squandered chances to give the Lady Rebels the lead.

Holmes, who finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds, was fouled while hitting a baseline jumper to tie the score at 62. But she missed the ensuing free throw.

With the game still tied with 2:42 left, Hampton, who had 18 points and seven rebounds, missed two free throws.

UNLV still had a chance to claim its first lead since early in the first half with the score still knotted at 62 with 1:04 left when Holmes drove to the hoop and started to pull up for a jumper. At the last second, though, she fired a pass under the basket to Hampton, whose shot hung on the edge of the rim before falling off.

The Lady Flames, whose lone loss this season was at Virginia Tech, quickly went the other way, and tournament Most Valuable Player Megan Frazee hit a jumper in the lane to give Liberty the lead for good.

"Players make plays, particularly at the end of the game. We missed some foul shots and had two of our best players missing foul shots at that point," UNLV coach Regina Miller said. "If we get the lead there, that's a big difference. Now they're playing from behind. But psychologically we never got over the hump.

"They're a very good team, and they know how to win. We're learning how to win."

Hampton, who went 6-for-11 from the line, missed her final three free throws.

"Coach says that free throws and layups win games, and at the end, I missed two free throws and a layup," Hampton, a 6-foot-3-inch junior, said. "I guess I just wasn't focusing. I have to shoot extra free throws and layups, so when it comes down to that, I won't miss."

Allyson Fasnacht, who sank six straight free throws in the last 29 seconds, led Liberty with 19 points, and Megan and Moriah Frazee scored 14 apiece.

In the tournament's consolation game, Ball State (4-8) posted a 68-59 win over Austin Peay (4-7). Porchia Green led the Cardinals with 21 points and 10 rebounds.