Young, Booker combined for 40 as Lady Rebels win by 38

The UNLV Lady Rebels are off to their best start since the 2017-18 season after winning their first two games of the season.

Most recently, the team took care of the Montana State Bobcats, 80-42 Saturday, Nov. 13 from the Thomas & Mack Center.

Head coach Lindy La Rocque has her first 2-0 start at UNLV in her second season, highlighted by this wire-to-wire win.

She and her team will go for 3-0 Wednesday, Nov. 17 on the road against Northern Arizona.

Last season, the Lumberjacks beat the Lady Rebels by four points in their season opener.

Sophomore center Desi-Rae Young posted another double-double and had it going from the start.

She scored the first seven points of the game for UNLV and nine of the team’s first 11 points.

Young closed the first 10-minutes with 12 points including a couple of and-one buckets.

Last season, Young was recognized as the Mountain West Freshman of the Year.

Young finished the night with 21 points on 10-of-13 from the field to go along with 10 rebounds, a steal and a block.

Sloppy play in the second quarter allowed the UNLV lead to be cut down to eight but before long it was back to double-digits.

The lead got as large as 19 points in the first half for the Lady Rebels. By the end of the game, the lead got as large as 41 points.

Junior guard Essence Booker nailed a three-pointer that would force a Montana State timeout during an eventual 11-0 run for UNLV.

Booker accounted for half of the eight made three-pointers for the Lady Rebels en route to a 19-point, 4-assist, 4-rebound stat line.

Montana State went 1-of-15 from three-point range.

Booker is in her first season with the team after transferring from Ball State.

Fellow first-year player Nneka Obiazor made her debut for the Lady Rebels, posting 11 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes of action.

It was a dominating effort by the home team allowing an average of just over 10 points a quarter.

While shooting 46.2% from the field, UNLV held Montana State to 31.1% shooting with six assists on 19 made field goals.

Moreover, the Lady Rebels dominated the rebounding numbers, finishing the night +23 in that department amplified by a 21-12 offensive rebound-mark.