UNLV wasn’t prepared to keep up against Boise State guard Jade Loville, who scored a school-record 40 points to lead the Broncos past the Lady Rebels 59-85 on Wednesday afternoon. Despite the loss, UNLV remains in fourth place in the Mountain West standings at 8-5, just one game ahead of Boise State (7-6).
The Lady Rebels started the game in a rough patch, as they hit only 4-of-15 (26.7%) in the first quarter. Nia Johnson led UNLV in scoring with 12 points, while Desi-Rae Young was next with eight.
The scoring did not improve in the second quarter. The Lady Rebels hit 4-of-17 (23.5%). Meanwhile, Boise State finished the first half 22-of-39 for 55%, and a 45-23 lead.
"Well, we would have liked to have a better performance to honor our senior Bailey [Thomas]. But it got going in all the wrong direction pretty much right away,” Head Coach Lindy La Rocque said. “We weren't very good in several areas. Credit them and their aggressiveness, Jade Lovelle is capable of doing 40 points any game and unfortunately she did that today.”
The first three quarters were tough for the Lady Rebels. They were held to under 28% shooting from the floor. The Broncos managed to shoot over 55%, maintaining a strong lead throughout the game.
During the fourth quarter, UNLV refined their shooting, with a strong finish. They ended up making 19-of-63 (30.2%) in the game. They also slowed down Boise State a bit, but not enough to overcome the deficit. The Lady Broncos made 38-of-74 shots in the end (51.4%).
"The good/bad thing is we have to play them in 24 hours again. We are much better than we showed today,” Coach Lindy La Rocque said, “I know our team feels and knows that, we have to come out tomorrow and rewrite a different script."
UNLV returns to the Cox Pavilion on Thursday to play the second game of the Boise State series at 2 p.m.
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