Lady Rebels move into tie atop conference with 3rd straight win

The records on paper suggested that UNLV’s game Wednesday against Air Force shouldn’t have been as close as it was.

The Falcons came into Cox Pavilion winless in 14 games. But they gave the Lady Rebels a scare before the home team pulled away for a 69-57 victory.

The game was close until the Lady Rebels found their way in the fourth quarter.

“I just think that we had a mindset of just finishing the game out because in the third quarter they scored a little bit too much on (us) so we had to bring it back together and really lock down on defense,” junior Paris Strawther said.

The Lady Rebels outscored the Falcons 16-9 in the final quarter to seal the victory.

They weren’t able to pull away earlier despite having a nine-point lead with 1:58 remaining in the first half.

The Falcons (0-4 Mountain West) chipped away, tying the game in the third period. But UNLV (8-7, 3-1 Mountain West) used a solid shooting effort to win its third straight, a victory that puts it in a tie atop the conference.

“Honestly, a lot of our defense leads to our offense, so I feel like in the first, second, excluding the third because we kind of let up a little bit, and in the fourth, really locking down on defense, that helps our offense,” Strawther said.

UNLV shot 24-for-44 (54.5 percent), led by Katie Powell, Brooke Johnson and Strawther.

“I thought our field-goal percentage was excellent, too — 55 percent. You have Katie 7-for-8, you have 5-for-9 for Paris, over 50 percent, and then you have Brooke shooting 50 and Jordyn (Bell) shooting 50 percent, so that was good,” coach Kathy Olivier said. “We didn’t really hit our threes, but I thought we attacked the basket really well.”

Johnson led the way with 20 points while dishing out a team-best five assists.

“I thought Brooke’s leadership was excellent, and I thought when she was attacking she had so many options,” Olivier said. “The game looked really clear for her.”

Powell added 19 points and Strawther scored 15 with nine rebounds. Bell scored 10 points.

What hurt UNLV was 22 turnovers, including 14 in the first half.

“They got in the passing lanes. They forced a lot of those turnovers,” Olivier said. “A lot of times when we turn the ball over it’s because we are careless or they are unforced but I thought Air Force did a good job forcing turnovers.”

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