Lady Rebels stumble early, fall to Old Dominion in tourney opener

The UNLV women's basketball team trailed Old Dominion by 12 points at halftime and never got closer than nine the rest of the way in an 85-67 loss Wednesday to open the World Vision Classic at Cox Pavilion.

Rejane Verin's layup with 7:16 remaining pulled the Lady Rebels (3-7) within 67-58, and Amanda Anderson's jumper again cut the Lady Monarchs' lead to nine at 71-62 with 5:54 left.

But Old Dominion (7-1) scored the next nine points as part of a 14-3 run to push the lead back to 20 and put away UNLV.

The Lady Rebels led three times in the early going, but Galaisha Goodhope's layup with 15:32 left in the first half put the Lady Monarchs up 8-7, and they led the rest of the game.

Alana Cesarz had 18 points and 10 rebounds for UNLV, and Kelli Thompson also added 18 points.

Jackie Cook led ODU with 23 points, hitting 4 of 8 from 3-point range, where the Lady Monarchs made 12 of 21 overall (57.1 percent). Old Dominion shot 53.1 percent for the game, while UNLV hit just 38.6 percent, including a 4-for-12 effort from 3-point range (33.3 percent).

In the tournament's other two games, No. 5 Notre Dame routed Alabama A&M 100-39, and No. 22 Texas A&M whipped Kansas State, 83-60.