University of Nevada Athletics

Nevada Game Notes

Who: Nevada Wolf Pack (3-14, 2-4 MW) at UNLV Lady Rebels (10-7, 3-3 MW)
When: Saturday, Jan. 23 - 3 p.m.
Where: Cox Pavilion - Las Vegas, Nev.
Live Stream: NevadaWolfPack.tv
Radio: NBC Sports Radio 1060 AM
Audio: NevadaWolfPack.com/audio
Play-by-Play Announcer: Don Marchand
Live Stats: NevadaStats.com

Scoring a big win Wednesday night, the Nevada women's basketball team will take the short flight down to Las Vegas to square off against interstate rival UNLV. Saturday's game will be the first of at least two meetings this season between the Wolf Pack and Lady Rebels for points in the Governor's Series.

Nevada enters this weekend on a bit of a roll. The Pack is 2-1 in its last three games and has outscored its opponents overall during that stretch. Wednesday night's 68-65 win over Wyoming was highlighted by senior Nyasha LeSure's game and career-high 29 points. In two games against Wyoming this season, LeSure has totaled 53 points. The win also marked head coach Jane Albright's 499th career victory.

UNLV on the other hand is coming off of a win over Utah State in which it scored its second-lowest point total of the season (46). The Lady Rebels boast four players averaging points in double figures and are led by Dakota Johnson (12.9 ppg) with Brooke Johnson not far behind (12.8 ppg) for the team lead. UNLV, like Nevada, is hot as of late winning three of its last four.

The interstate rivalry continues for the 37th time on Saturday. The Lady Rebels have seemingly dominated the all-time series, 29-7. The Wolf Pack snapped an eight-year drought to the Lady Rebels last year with its 71-62 victory at home. It marked Jane Albright's first victory over UNLV as the Nevada head coach.

QUICK HITS
-AJ Cephas ranks first in the league among freshmen in rebounding (6.1 rpg)
-Averaging 13.9 points per game, Nyasha LeSure ranks seventh in the conference in scoring
-Nevada has scored 30 points or more in six of its last eight halves of basketball
-In its last three games, the Pack is 2-1 and is outscoring its opponents 194-188
-The Pack will be without juniors T Moe and Ashlee Jones and senior Julia Shelbourn for the duration of the season (injury)
-Jane Albright is one win shy of 500 career victories

COUNTDOWN TO 500
Coach Jane Albright is now just one win shy of eclipsing 500 victories for her career after the Pack's 68-65 win over Wyoming. Over the years she has established herself as one of the NCAA's winningest active coaches in Division I. At the start of the season, Albright ranked 30th among active head coaches in college women's basketball by victories. As part of the celebration to this milestone, a special ticket promotion will be in place until win No. 500. For each home game, game tickets will be the same price as the number of wins Albright needs to get to 500.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 - Wins shy of 500 career victories for Jane Albright
4 - 20-point games for Nyasha LeSure this season
10 - Players who have started a game this season for the Pack
36 - Meetings between the Lady Rebels and Wolf Pack
448 - Miles to get from Reno to Las Vegas

NEW SEASON, NEW TEAM
Since the start of conference play, it's been a new-look Wolf Pack. Despite being 2-4 through the first six MW games, Nevada overall has been playing much better than its nonconference season. The Pack has gotten its scoring margin down to just -3.5, where it was at -15.4 after non-league games. The offense is now hitting 40.3 percent of its shots after making 36.9 percent during November and December. The defense is much improved as well, limiting its opponents to 39.0 percent shooting when opposing offenses were knocking down 45.6 percent before.

SENIORITY
Senior Nyasha LeSure continues to add to her career season. In the last game against Wyoming, LeSure established a new career-high of 29 points, her fourth 20-point game of the season. Her 29 points is the most by a Wolf Pack player since Tahnee Robinson scored 35 vs. Idaho in the 2011 WAC Tournament. LeSure has now scored in double figures in 12 of 17 games. She now looks to eclipse the 800-point plateau, needing 58.

LAST TIME OUT
Senior Nyasha LeSure established a new career-high of 29 points as the Nevada women's basketball team held on in a thriller to down Wyoming, 68-65, Wednesday night. It marks career win No. 499 for head coach Jane Albright.

LeSure's 29 points are the most by a Wolf Pack (3-14, 2-4 MW) player since Tahnee Robinson scored 35 against Idaho in the WAC Tournament in 2011. She connected on 57 percent (12-of-21) of her shots, grabbed eight rebounds and added three assists. In two games against Wyoming this season, LeSure has totaled 53 points.

The story of the game for the Cowgirls (10-7, 3-4 MW) was their 54.2 percent (13-of-24) success rate from the free throw line. Wyoming, the Mountain West's second-best free throw shooting team going into the game, missed important foul shots down the stretch, hitting just 5-of-12 in the fourth quarter.

Nevada took a six-point lead into halftime, just its second time leading at the break this season. Despite being outscored in the third quarter the Pack was able to obtain a nine-point lead, its largest of the game, early in the period. A stretch of cold offense from there allowed Wyoming to get back in the game, tying it at 44 on a three-pointer by Marta Gomez with 4:23 left in the period. Battling back and not relinquishing the lead, Nevada took a five-point lead into the final quarter.

A back-and-forth, entertaining final quarter ensued. The Cowgirls fought and clawed, coming within one point of the Pack multiple times throughout the period. Nevada did not falter and maintained its lead until 1:22 remained when Hailey Ligocki's layup gave Wyoming its first lead since the first quarter. On the next possession, senior Kelsey Kaelin's short jumper gave the lead right back to the home team, 62-61.

As the clock ticked to under a minute, Wyoming's leading scorer Marquelle Dent headed to the foul line with a chance to take the lead once more, but missed both shots. Now in a position to begin fouling, Kaelin took her place at the free throw line and hit both, giving Nevada a 64-61 advantage with 21 seconds left.

Dent took the ensuing inbound pass, hustled the length of the floor and converted a layup to bring it back to a one-point game. With 14 ticks on the clock and the Cowgirls pressing, Kaelin made a heads up play down the length of the floor and launched the inbound pass to a wide open LeSure, who gave Nevada some breathing room once again.

INJURY BUG
The Wolf Pack has been bitten pretty hard by the injury bug, losing three starters for the season. During the preseason, Nevada lost point guard T Moe for the duration of the year. Moe, who missed 26 games last year due to a knee injury, will again have knee surgery and begin rehab, cutting her season well short. The team also lost senior Julia Shelbourn and junior Ashlee Jones for the season after they both suffered injuries during games. Redshirt freshman Mariah Williams has also missed time this season still recovering from an injury she sustained last season.

THROWN INTO THE FIRE
With three season-ending injuries to members of the starting lineup, coach Jane Albright's freshmen have had the opportunity to see a lot of minutes, and what better way to learn the college game than to get out there on the court. Of the 10 scholarship players on the roster, only three (Kaelin, LeSure, Zeller) had played in a college basketball game prior to this season.

2015-16 ROSTER BREAKDOWN (eligible players)
By Class: Senior (2), Junior (2), Sophomore (2), Freshman (7)
By State/Country: California (3), Nevada (3), New Mexico (1), Illinois (1), Washington (1), Oregon (1), Montana (1), Missouri (1),
Switzerland (1)
By Position: Guard (9), Forward (4)

HOLY SCHMID
Junior Stephanie Schmid put on the best display of three-point shooting by a Nevada player since the early 2000's versus San Francisco. Schmid knocked down seven shots from beyond the arc, the most since Ashley Bastian hit seven against Saint Mary's in 2001. She hit four alone in the first quarter and scored all 14 of Nevada's first quarter points. For the game, Schmid shattered her previous career-high of 12 points and finished with 25 points. With 30 made three-pointers, she ranks fifth in the conference in that category.

MOUNTAIN WEST PRESEASON POLL
The Mountain West released its 2015-16 women's basketball preseason poll with Nevada predicted to finish in the 10th spot in the 11-team league, as voted on by the league's head coaches.

1. Colorado State
2. New Mexico
3. Boise State
4. Fresno State
5. UNLV
6. San Diego State
7. Wyoming
8. San Jose State
9. Utah State
10. Nevada
11. Air Force

In addition to the preseason rankings, preseason awards were announced as well with Nevada junior transfer Stephanie Schmid earning Co-Newcomer of the Year honors. Schmid is a transfer from Arizona Western College where she posted over 1,000 points in her two years there.

HISTORICAL TEAM INFORMATION
The University of Nevada women's basketball program began in the year 1899, when the team, coached by Ada Edwards, earned its first win over a varsity opponent, Stanford. Since its inception in 1899, records of the program's history have not accurately been kept up to date. For the purposes of all records, wins and losses and other statistical information related to the Nevada women's basketball program, the 1981-82 season will be considered the first for the program, the first year women's basketball was recognized by the NCAA.

WOLF PACK ORIGIN
In the 1921-22 athletic season, a local writer described the spirited play of a Nevada team as a 'pack of wolves'. The name stuck and soon almost every reference to the athletic teams was the Nevada Wolves. In 1923, the students officially designated 'Wolves' as the school's mascot.

Since all teams are a group of players, the word pack followed quickly. In 1928-29, the Nevada student handbook referred to the athletic teams as Wolf Pack and two school songs were adopted, entitled 'The Wolf Pack' and 'Here Comes the Wolf Pack.'