Lady Rebels survive scare against Broncos, advance to fourth straight semifinals

Looking to harness the same energy that captured the program its first of three straight conference tournament titles, UNLV survived a quarterfinal scare to keep a quest for a fourth alive.

After dropping its regular season finale, the Lady Rebels rebounded to bounce the Boise State Broncos from the Mountain West Championships, 80-70, Monday, March 10 from the Thomas & Mack Center. Through the previous three seasons, UNLV won its quarterfinal game by an average of close to 33 points.

“The resilience, the toughness, the togetherness that it took to pull out this win was tremendous,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “A lot of things did not go our way today; from missed layups to just plays that we normally make. Just a step off defensively, got outrebounded — you can kind of just go down the line.”

Sporting a 25-6 overall record, the Lady Rebels will now await the winner of No. 4 San Diego State and No. 5 New Mexico. The former handed the program its first of two conference losses during the regular season while the latter was swept in two outings.

“I think we’re very worthy of a tournament bid regardless of the outcome of this tournament,” La Rocque said. “What the NCAA uses as tools and metrics to decide those outcomes are beyond me. I have personal opinions but they don’t matter and I don’t have a solution. So then it’s like why does my opinion also matter.”

Despite capturing the win to advance, UNLV entered the fourth quarter down five to Boise State sitting in a similar position against the same foe. In early January, the program went into the final 10 minutes down seven on the road in Idaho before escaping with a four-point win.

In order to take the lead in the fourth quarter, the Lady Rebels opened the frame on a 12-4 run. Ultimately, they won the fourth by 15 which included holding the Broncos without a field goal for the final four-plus minutes of the game.

“I think our mindset was to keep responding,” senior forward Alyssa Brown said. “They were going to hit shots. They were hot early and we knew that. If they were going to score, we knew we had to come down, take care of the ball [and] get a shot, something that we were really looking for.”

Senior guard Kiara Jackson hit back-to-back fourth quarter field goals to give the team its first lead since the first quarter. She struggled from the field to the tune of 5-of-22 on her way to 13 points.

Jackson was also limited to just one assist through the majority of the game before tallying one more before the final buzzer.

“She’s a big part of our offense — especially facilitating,” sophomore guard Amarachi Kimpson said. “But we just have to keep the mindset and put confidence in her that she can still keep it up.”

Teammate McKinna Brackens didn’t score her first points until early in the fourth quarter as part of the comeback effort. Her first and only field goal of the game was a big one as it put her team up eight with just under 34 seconds left.

After the made basket, La Rocque embraced Brackens by grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her while attempting to pump her up for the lead-extending make.

“They looked a little lethargic to be honest,” La Rocque said. “And I wasn’t going to let myself sleep tonight if I didn’t try to change it.”

Boise State led for more than eight and a half minutes of the opening quarter. Through three games played this season against UNLV, the Broncos won the first quarter by 13 points total.

With the game on the line, Boise State couldn’t connect at the free throw line as it missed four of its 10 attempts in the fourth quarter.

“Toughness — that was a big word today,” Kimpson said. “[La Rocque] really got into us, like third and fourth quarter. And it really gave us the fire to come back and gain the lead.”

Kimpson scored 17 of her career-high 29 points in the first half including eight points in the first quarter. Through the regular season, she led the team in scoring with just about 14 points a game.

“I just come with the energy every game,” she said. “Whatever my team needs, that’s what I’m coming with. I guess it was points today. Career high, good for me.”

Backcourt mate Aaliyah Alexander added 11 points including a clutch and-one late in regulation.