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UNLV’s hiccups against top tier talent from Power conference schools continued Friday night with a lopsided finish.
The Lady Rebels were thumped by the Oklahoma Sooners, 88-58, Friday, Nov. 22 from the Thomas & Mack Center. Last season, the program beat Oklahoma on the road in Norman.
“Obviously, not the outcome that we wanted tonight,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “Oklahoma is a very good team. I don’t totally believe that we’re 30 points behind them but that’s what we were tonight. Give them a lot of credit, they’re top-10 in the country for a reason.”
Friday’s loss ended an undefeated home stretch to start the season for the three-time defending Mountain West champions. In addition, it ends a streak of 19 straight wins inside the Thomas & Mack Center for UNLV over the past four seasons.
La Rocque is now 2-9 as a head coach against Power conference programs. Both of the program’s losses this season have come to schools in Power conferences.
“It’s a little bit on everyone,” she said. “At different positions, players can be bigger, faster and stronger. But whether it's the scheme, the strategy or the scouting report, everyone has to work really hard to get wins in these big games. As the coaching staff, we’re not immune to that either.”
Sporting a 4-2 overall record, the Lady Rebels’ five-game homestand will continue with the program’s Thanksgiving Classic where it will host three other schools on campus.
That slate of games will begin Wednesday, Nov. 27 from the Thomas & Mack Center with a contest against the UCF Knights. Tip-off is scheduled for noon.
“We’re going to have to look at the film and see exactly where things went sideways because they went sideways pretty quickly,” La Rocque said. “It’s just the beginning for our season and our team, we want to play in games like this. Our next game is just as big, quite frankly.”
A one-point halftime lead for Oklahoma was blown open in the third quarter behind a hot start. La Rocque called a timeout just under two and a half minutes on the heels of a 8-0 run by the visitors. By the next stoppage, the Sooner had doubled that run to the tune of 16-0 on the way to a 25-point third quarter lead.
UNLV lost the third quarter, 28-4. Ultimately, the Lady Rebs found themselves down by as many as 32 points in the contest.
“I want to go back and really watch it,” La Rocque said. “It felt like that snowball got really big, really quickly and it was rolling downhill fast. I don’t know if it was panic or if it was a loss of hope there as if it was out of hand.”
Senior guard Kiara Jackson hit back-to-back three-pointers in the opening quarter on her way to 10 early points. She opened the year missing her first 14 three-point attempts.
Jackson recorded her first double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds to go along with three assists and a steal.
“Kiara’s our senior,” La Rocque said. “She’s our leader, she’s our point guard. She’s really the heart and slow of this team and I really thought she was battling. Her gas tank was on ‘E’ in the first quarter but she wasn’t going to give in to that. I was challenging our team to give some of the same fight.”
UNLV got four threes in the first quarter from their starting frontcourt players Alyssa Brown and McKinna Brackens. The latter finished with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting in addition to seven rebounds.
“McKinna’s a young player that hasn’t had minutes in big games like this that we’ve played,” La Rocque said. “I thought she was tremendous. Even though we obviously didn’t win the game and the game was what it was, she should take a lot of confidence from this game.”
Jackson and Brackens were the only players in double-figures. UNLV’s bench was outscored, 44-7.
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