Lady Rebels edge Colorado State, still lead Mountain West
Katie Powell was in the gym Friday night working on her jump shot.
It paid dividends Saturday against Colorado State.
Powell’s jumper with 1:49 left gave UNLV the lead, and the Lady Rebels held on for a 56-52 victory at Cox Pavilion, their fifth straight and their first over the Rams in five years.
“I knew it was going to be a really physical game, and I had to get my jump shot right, and I figured ‘I would drive this,’ but they weren’t calling any fouls, so I just took the shot instead,” said Powell, who scored a game-high 18 points.
The Lady Rebels (10-7, 5-1 Mountain West) hit 7 of 14 first-quarter shots to take a 20-7 lead over the Rams (12-7, 4-4) before cooling off and settling for a 26-26 halftime tie. UNLV hit 2 of 18 second-quarter shots and watched Colorado State go on a 12-0 run as the Rams hit 5 of 9 3-pointers in the quarter.
The score was tied 41-41 after three quarters.
“Colorado State plays an unorthodox style, but we stuck with our game plan,” said Lady Rebels coach Kathy Olivier, whose team remained tied for first place in the Mountain West with Wyoming. “We didn’t get frustrated throughout the game, played great defense down the stretch and made some big plays.”
Brooke Johnson, UNLV’s leading scorer, hit 1 of 10 field-goal attempts and scored only seven points, but she made four straight free throws and forced the Rams into a turnover late in the game. She finished with eight assists, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
“(Johnson) was running around, she goes on No. 4 (Jordyn Edwards), caused the backcourt violation, got us the ball back, made her free throws down the stretch, had eight assists,” Olivier said. “There’s so many more things she can do than just score.”
Nikki Wheatley, in her second game back from a foot injury, had 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds before fouling out. Paris Strawther scored 12 for the Lady Rebels, who hit 17 of 20 free throws to the Rams’ 5 of 5.
“One of our main goals was … it’s time for us to get them,” Powell said.
Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.
