Lady Rebels down San Jose State for 1st conference victory

It has been a tough past few weeks for the Lady Rebels.

They lost starting point guard Nikki Wheatley indefinitely to a foot injury and went into Wednesday’s game on a four-game slide, last winning on Dec. 9.

They ended their skid by taking down San Jose State 79-60 in a Mountain West game at Cox Pavilion.

“I noticed that our energy was way up and our intensity was way up and even if we made a mistake, it was like out the window,” junior Paris Strawther said. “We were onto the next play with high energy.”

Strawther was a huge factor with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The junior has struggled to stay out of foul trouble, but on Wednesday she had just one.

She said she was more involved with her teammates and kept her “head on straight to stay in the game.”

It was more than welcome in a game against a shorter San Jose State team.

The Lady Rebels (6-7, 1-1) used that height advantage, holding a 55-30 edge in rebounds and consistently getting inside.

“(We were) just playing inside out and using our height advantage, and if they collapsed in, obviously we have shooters that we can kick it out to. And I think we executed that today,” Strawther said.

The Lady Rebels had a huge advantage in points in the paint 50-18.

“We practiced it and they did it,” coach Kathy Olivier said. “They were smart. They looked inside. The posts wanted the ball. They didn’t rush. We got high-percentage shots. You get high-percentage shots, you’re going to make baskets. That’s what happened.”

Rodjanae Wade was strong off the bench the Lady Rebels with eight points and nine rebounds. Katie Powell finished with another double-double — 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

“Katie’s been playing really, really well. It’s time that Paris stepped up and Paris had a double-double. I thought that was huge. Paris and Katie had that one-two punch going,” Olivier said. “RJ comes in, almost gets a double-double. One point away, two rebounds away so we really emphasized getting the ball inside. It was just nice to see Paris making her shots, getting to the free-throw line and rebounding.”

Brooke Johnson also added 16 points and Alyssa Anderson chipped in 11.

UNLV held the Spartans (4-10, 1-2) to 30 percent shooting, including 5-for-30 (16.6 percent) from 3-point range.

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.