Short-handed Lady Rebels can’t keep up with Power Five opponent

A short-handed UNLV women’s basketball team lost to Oklahoma State, its lone nonconference Power Five opponent, 87-62 on Sunday at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

The Lady Rebels played without injured forwards Nneka Obiazor and Alyssa Brown, but coach Lindy La Rocque said her team can’t dwell on the loss for long.

“The ceiling isn’t caving in,” La Rocque said. “The sun will come up tomorrow, but we have to continue to pick some of this apart and improve.”

UNLV was plagued by another slow start, falling behind 20-10 in the first quarter. The Lady Rebels (9-2) battled back from an early deficit in their 77-74 win against Hawaii Hilo on Dec. 7, but this time, their opponent slammed the door.

La Rocque credited the size of the Cowgirls (9-2) as a major factor for the lopsided defeat, especially with Obiazor and Brown out of action with knee injuries. Both were held out for precautionary reasons and are considered day-to-day, La Rocque said.

Starting in Obiazor’s place, sophomore guard Kenadee Winfrey led UNLV with a career-best 13 points. However, no other UNLV player scored more than 10.

Junior center Desi-Rae Young added just eight points, and was swarmed in the low post every time she touched the ball. Senior Essence Booker had 10 points, but went 0-for-3 from 3. UNLV went 1-for-13 from 3 in the first half as a team.

“Oklahoma State’s a good team, and we made them look really good, too,” La Rocque said. “Offensively we didn’t have some shots fall, and then the snowball started rolling downhill — the wrong way.”

UNLV’s offense took a half to warm up, but its defense never showed up. Oklahoma State shot 55.2 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from 3. Junior forward Lior Garzon had 20 points off the bench, while fifth-year guard Terryn Milton and junior Lexy Keys scored 16 and 15, respectively.

“This game hurts,” La Rocque said. “It doesn’t feel good at all, but we can use that to our advantage moving forward if we take the right strides.”

UNLV hosts Northern Arizona at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Cox Pavilion.

Contact reporter Andy Yamashita at ayamashita@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ANYamashita on Twitter.