Box Score Feb. 20, 2016 Box Score
RENO, Nev. - A 34-point fourth quarter helped the Nevada women's basketball team snap a five-game losing streak and defeat interstate rival UNLV, 71-65, Saturday at Lawlor Events Center.
The Wolf Pack (5-20, 4-10 MW) led after the opening quarter but was then outscored 35-18 in the next two quarters combined to face an 11-point deficit entering the final quarter of play. A resilient Pack team went on to outdo the Lady Rebels (14-12, 7-8 MW) by a 34-17 margin in the fourth to capture the upset victory.
Trailing by seven with about half of the quarter remaining, Nevada began chipping away at the lead. Some aggressive play by the Lady Rebels sent the Pack to the free throw line two possessions in a row. Clutch foul shots by senior Kelsey Kaelin and sophomore Halie Bergman brought it to just a three-point game. On the ensuing UNLV possession a swipe by Kaelin led to a Teige Zeller jump shot on the other end and suddenly the lead was one, 51-50.
UNLV's Dakota Gonzalez answered with a long jumper of her own on the next possession, pushing the lead back up to three. In quick transition Bergman stepped up and hit a clutch shot from beyond the arc, tying the game at 53. It became a slew of three-pointers as Gonzalez answered once again with a triple. However, Bergman caught a slick pass from senior Nyasha LeSure on the next Nevada possession and swished in another shot from distance, knotting things up at 56.
As if those triples weren't enough LeSure joined the party after a UNLV turnover and put her team ahead by three with 1:29 on the clock, a lead the Pack would not relinquish. Nevada did just enough down the stretch to hang on to that lead. With 31 seconds to go, UNLV cut it to within two. A Hail Mary type pass on Nevada's next inbound from Kaelin to a wide open LeSure resulted in the LeSure layup and a foul call on UNLV. LeSure sunk the free throw to ice the game with just 28 ticks left.
LeSure finished as Nevada's leading scorer at 19 points and dished out a career-high six assists. As a team the Wolf Pack tied its season-high of 17 assists. Junior Stephanie Schmid also reached double figures with 16 points and Bergman finished with 11. For the second straight game Zeller grabbed double digits in rebounds with 11.
All-in-all the Wolf Pack enjoyed one of its best offensive games of the season with a season-best 71 points and shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52). Free throw differential can be credited with an assist in the win as well as the Pack was sent to the line 20 times in the second half while the Lady Rebels made just eight trips. Nevada turned 19 UNLV turnovers into 23 points.
Saturday's game was the team's annual Play 4Kay pink game in which nearly $3,300 was raised for breast cancer research. Also in a Governor's Series matchup with the two teams currently split on wins this year, 1-1, and the possibility of meeting in the Mountain West Tournament, no points will be awarded yet.
Nevada hits the road all of next week starting first with a trip to Logan, Utah to face Utah State Wednesday night at 6 p.m. PST.
