Wilfred, defense carry Lady Rebels to a win against Wyoming

The UNLV Lady Rebels won their first conference game against the Wyoming Cowgirls, 54-46, Saturday, Dec.12 at the Cox Pavilion.

“Obviously we love being undefeated here in conference at 1-0,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “That was our goal and I'm really proud of our effort, specifically our defensive effort in the game today. It was really awesome.”

UNLV’s opportunity to improve to 2-0 in conference will be at the Cox Pavilion Monday, Dec. 14 at 1:30 p.m., finishing off their back-to-back games with Wyoming.

The Lady Rebels are now 2-2 on the season.

“We had a good scouting report and [the team] locked in, [it] focused and [it] executed,” La Rocque said. “Offensively, it wasn't our best shooting night, we turned the ball over too much, but the good news is we play them again and we have another opportunity to right some of those wrongs. Our challenge is to bring the same defense for the next game that we had today."

UNLV shot 45 percent from the field and 29 percent from three point range, recording 20 turnovers.

As expected, the Lady Rebels relied on their defense to get out of a close game against the Cowgirls.

They held the Cowgirls to 46 points, which is the fewest points the Lady Rebels have given up in a Mountain West conference opener game in program history.

UNLV was locked in throughout the game, collecting four steals, six blocks and 31 defensive rebounds.

The Cowgirls were only able to score 16 points in the first half, eight points in each quarter, because of the aggressive defense by the Lady Rebels.

UNLV was not done there as it forced Wyoming to shoot just 28 percent from the field and 16 percent from deep range.

UNLV controlled the tempo of the game, maintaining the lead for 31 minutes while holding off Wyoming’s second half push.

The largest lead of the game was 17 points for the Lady Rebels.

The bench had a spectacular performance outscoring Wyoming’s bench, 24-8.

Freshman forward Desi-Rae Young got her first career start and recorded nine points and eight rebounds, finishing just shy of a double-double.

She was not the only one shy of a double-double as redshirt sophomore forward Delaynie Byrne recorded nine points and 11 rebounds as well.

Sophomore center Keyana Wilfred put the team on her back and carried the Lady Rebels to victory, recording a career high of 20 points and pulling in five rebounds.