Lady Rebels tighten up down stretch in Arizona again, drop first road game

Under head coach Lindy La Rocque, the UNLV Lady Rebels have held leads going into the fourth quarter on the road against the Arizona Wildcats twice. They lost both games in the end.

Returning to the site of their first NCAA Tournament appearance under La Rocque, the Lady Rebels were defeated by the Wildcats, 75-66, Tuesday, Nov. 12 from the McKale Center. It was the first road game of the season for UNLV.

Last season, the program beat Arizona by 19 points from the Thomas & Mack Center.

“Great women’s basketball game in a heck of an environment,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “Really proud of our team and our effort. Obviously we came up short and that wasn’t the result we wanted.”

Tuesday marked the first loss of the year for La Rocque’s Lady Rebels through their first three games of the season.  It also was the first of six scheduled meetings against schools from the power conferences this season for the three-time Mountain West champions.

For now, UNLV will return home to host Stonehill Friday, Nov. 15 from the Cox Pavilion. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

“With a young, experienced group, this adversity will be good for us to learn from and continue to be better,” La Rocque said. “These are the games we want to play in, that our programs deserve to be in. I thought our team fought their hearts out.”

Arizona won the fourth quarter, 29-16, after entering the final frame down four to UNLV. In the program’s last two appearances in Tucson, the Lady Rebels have been out-scored 53-30.

The Wildcats went on an early 5-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a minimal two-point lead. They immediately hopped into a press defense after every make in the fourth quarter.

UNLV cut the deficit down to three on two occasions but the home team’s lead just kept growing. First it jumped to six which was Arizona’s largest at the time. The largest lead would eventually be 12 before the final buzzer.

It was the three-point shot that fell when the Wildcats needed it and it started relatively early. They drilled back-to-back three-pointers late in the first quarter as part of an 8-0 run to capture the lead.

In the opening 10 minutes, UNLV missed all five of its three-point attempts while Arizona connected on two of its five tries. In fact, the Lady Rebels didn’t hit their first three of the game until more than a minute into the second quarter.

When it mattered most in the fourth quarter, UNLV once again went cold from deep to the tune of 1-for-7 while its opponent shot a perfect 3-of-3.

Despite the loss, the Lady Rebels forced the Wildcats into 21 turnovers and scored 20 points off those mistakes. However, their 16 turnovers were also converted into 18 points for the home team.

Senior guard Kiara Jackson was the lone player in double-figures for majority of the night and would finish with 12 points and five assists that shared for the game-high.

Sophomore guard Amarachi Kimpson led the team with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting. She scored half of her 14 points in the third and fourth quarters.