Lady Rebels ready to move on from rocky weeks, head to San Diego State

The past two weeks have brought a lot of attention to the UNLV women’s basketball team — and certainly not all positive.

UNLV hasn’t lost in 2017, but a fight against Utah State has captured the headlines more than their three consecutive victories.

The Lady Rebels (12-5, 3-2 Mountain West) will play at San Diego State (7-9, 2-3) on Wednesday with two trying weeks and two suspensions behind them. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Viejas Arena.

“I definitely think it’s helped us to build our character,” UNLV guard Dylan Gonzalez said. “I feel like it’s really helped us collectively as a team to figure out who we are, and our coaches really instilled into us to never let our circumstances get the better of us.

“I feel like these last couple weeks have really been a learning experience for us as a team, and I feel like we’re continuing to grow.”

After the Jan. 7 fight against Utah State, the Lady Rebels had to finish the game with just six players.

A game later, they hosted New Mexico — first place in the Mountain West at the time — with eight players available and pulled out a win after solid performances from players such as forward Alyssa Anderson and center Rodjanae Wade.

“I think what it shows is that we’re deeper than everyone thought,” coach Kathy Olivier said. “We had so many different people step up.”

Anderson led the team with 18 points on 6-of-7 3-point shooting, and Wade had 10 points and nine rebounds. They started in place of center Katie Powell and forward Paris Strawther, who were suspended for one game apiece for their roles in the fight.

“Katie and Paris are back, and they’re ready to prove themselves that they can play and be disciplined and do things right,” Olivier said.

UNLV also will welcome back forward Jordyn Bell, who missed two games because of a concussion.

The Lady Rebels have beaten two of the top teams in the conference — New Mexico and Boise State — but are not taking their next two opponents for granted. They play Saturday at Air Force (0-5, 2-13).

“We’re just very confident in ourselves, but I think that in the Mountain West Conference, anybody can come in and play an incredible game,” guard Dakota Gonzalez said. “It could be anybody’s game at any time.”

Dakota Gonzalez said the Aztecs will present a different matchup than last season. She said UNLV saw continuous on-ball screens last season, but has different expectations for Wednesday.

“This year, they kind of added some more dynamics to their offence, which for us, it could be a challenge,” Dakota Gonzalez said. “We’re up for it, absolutely, but we’re definitely going to have to go out and be communicating.

”We’re really going to have to focus on the defensive end with them this year because it’s a different look than last year.”

The Lady Rebels are a different team, too, one that is ready to move past their recent history.

“They’re in every game,” Olivier said of San Diego State. “They might have lost a couple of games by a close margin, but they’ve also beaten good teams, so you better be ready to play.”

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