Lady Rebels won’t hoist fourth straight tourney title trophy after second loss to Aztecs

UNLV needed to go through an exorcism of sorts in order to advance to the next round of the Mountain West Championships but suffered a setback along the way.

After a close call with Boise State, the Lady Rebels’ luck ran against the San Diego State Aztecs, 71-59, Tuesday, March 11 from the Thomas & Mack Center. Tuesday’s matchup was a rematch of the title game from last year and the third meeting this season between the two rivals.

“We dug ourselves a little bit too big of a hole we couldn’t climb out of,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “Although I was very proud of our fight and just kind of the togetherness that we showed there late.

”I don’t honestly have a ton of words because we haven’t done this much, which is a good thing […] When you’re at the top, when you get knocked off, the fall is long and hard. And it hurts.”

San Diego State handed UNLV its first loss of the conference slate on a buzzer-beater from Viejas Arena but had lost 13 straight meetings in Las Vegas. In beating the three-time defending Mountain West tournament champs, the Aztecs became the first program to beat the Lady Rebels two times in the same season since 2021.

“They’re tough,” La Rocque said. “First of all, they’re extremely talented and defensively, they’re tough. They’re physical. I’d like to think they’re a little like us. We make it tough on our opponents. I feel like they make it really tough on us.”

UNLV will now await a potential postseason landing spot after finishing the year with a 25-7 overall record to this point. San Diego State will move on to play No. 2 Wyoming or No. 6 Fresno State.

“I think it’s a lot of pressure for these young people,” La Rocque said. “These seniors won three championships and they would give anything to win another one. But just the target that that creates, the pressure, subconsciously even that that builds.

”Public pressure, just the expectation that this is what you do, so why aren’t you doing it. That’s a lot for young people. And if anything, that’s what I felt. I mean — we were going for a fucking four-peat, are you kidding me? Excuse my language boss. Sorry, you know? And we didn’t get it done.”

Throughout 31 games this season, the Lady Rebels were held to under 60 points three times. Two of those times came against the Aztecs including this most recent loss.

It would begin as a defensive battle as UNLV went into the second quarter up, 10-9. In total, both teams combined to shoot 8-for-30 in that opening frame.

“I mean, we split the regular season with them so obviously we knew they were capable of beating us,” La Rocque said. “Defensively, I thought our kids did a great job. We gave up a couple of threes. Like, [SDSU’s] Jazlen Green, great player but I think she’s made three threes all year, one of them in our last game. Those were the things we were willing to give up.”

Green hit three three-pointers in the Aztec win.

In the second quarter, things would begin to trickle in the wrong direction behind an 11-0 run to put the team down 13. As a result, the Lady Rebels went scoreless for the final 3:55 of the first half.

“We were taking quick shots,” senior guard Kiara Jackson said. “We were rushing. We got a little nervous, just out of character but we’ll learn from it.”

Out of halftime, San Diego State would push that lead to 21 points behind more cold shooting from UNLV. Heading into the final frame, the latter was shooting just 25% from the field.

The team did try to muster a little energy heading into the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run. At one point of the fourth quarter, the Aztecs tallied just five points over a span of more than six and a half minutes.

That once 21-point lead was trimmed to as little as seven points in the fourth quarter but UNLV wouldn’t inch any closer.

Fresh off a rough shooting night, Jackson opened the game with two makes on four tries but wouldn’t have as strong of a finish. She would close the game with 14 points on 4-of-18 from the floor.

Senior forward Alyssa Brown led the team in scoring with 15 points to go along with seven rebounds. She was the first Lady Rebel in double-figures, crossing the threshold early in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Amarachi Kimpson added 10 points on just three makes on 10 tries.