University of Nevada Athletics

Nevada Game Notes
Utah State Game Notes

Who: Nevada Wolf Pack (5-20, 4-10 MW) at Utah State Aggies (11-14, 6-8 MW)
When: Wednesday, Feb. 24 - 6 p.m. PST
Where: Dee Glen Smith Spectrum - Logan, Utah
Live Stream: NevadaWolfPack.tv
Radio: NBC Sports Radio 1060 AM
Audio: NevadaWolfPack.com/audio
Play-by-Play Announcer: Don Marchand
Live Stats: NevadaStats.com

It's back to the road for the Nevada women's basketball team as it heads to Logan, Utah for a mid-week clash with Utah State. It will be a long week of travel for the Wolf Pack as it will then head to Colorado State later in the week.

Nevada is coming off an emotional upset win over interstate rival UNLV where it used a 34-point fourth quarter to overcome an 11-point deficit. The Wolf Pack produced one of its best offensive games of the season, scoring a season-high 71 points and shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52). Senior Nyasha LeSure led the offensive charge with 19 points, her 18th game of the season in double figures. Stephanie Schmid (16) and Halie Bergman (11) also reached double digits. For a second straight game sophomore Teige Zeller grabbed double figures in rebounds with 11.

Utah State has struggled as of late, losing its last three games. The Aggies do, however, boast one of the league's top scorers in sophomore Funda Nakkasoglu. She averages 21.8 points per game and is also one of the top assist leaders in the conference as well. Recently Nakkasoglu registered her 1,000th career point in just her sophomore season.

The all-time series between these two programs has been pretty even so far. In 22 games played, the Aggies have a slight edge in the series, 12-10. Last season the two teams split the season series with a win apiece.

QUICK HITS
-Jane Albright captured career win No. 500 on the road at San Diego State (70-64)
-Saturday's win over UNLV is just the second win vs. the Lady Rebels for head coach Jane Albright in her tenure at Nevada
-Fellow senior Kelsey Kaelin has produced 27 assists and just five turnovers in her last seven games
-Redshirt freshman AJ Cephas is one blocked shots shy of breaking into the Nevada single-season top-10
-Nevada will play three of its remaining four regular season games on the road
-The Pack will be without T Moe, Ashlee Jones, Julia Shelbourn and Mariah Williams for the duration of the season (injury)

500 WINS - A HISTORIC MILESTONE
Coach Jane Albright recorded career win No. 500 after the Pack's 70-64 win at San Diego State. Over the years she has established herself as one of the NCAA's winningest active coaches in Division I. Albright now ranks 31st among active head coaches in college women's basketball in victories. Now in her 32nd year as a Division I head coach, Nevada is Albright's fourth stop after beginning her career at Northern Illinois (1984-94) and moving on to Wisconsin (1994-2003) and Wichita State (2003-08) before coming to Reno. She has made nine NCAA Tournament appearances and won the WNIT in 1999-2000 with Wisconsin.

BY THE NUMBERS
10 - Players who have started a game this season for the Pack
29 - Rebounds grabbed by sophomore Teige Zeller in her last two games
37 - National ranking for Stephanie Schmid in three-point shots attempted (190)
85 - Kelsey Kaelin's national rank in assist/turnover ratio (1.8, ranks second in the MW)
552 - Miles to get from Reno, Nev. to Logan, Utah

SENIORITY
Senior Nyasha LeSure continues to add to her career season. During the home 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 18 of 25 games. Additionally the Sparks native collected her 800th career point on the road at Fresno State.

LAST TIME OUT
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.

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.

STEPPING UP
Senior guard Kelsey Kaelin is a natural shooting guard. Due to a
season-ending injury to starting point guard T Moe before the season began, Kaelin has been forced into that role and has filled in nicely. The Oregon native has turned the ball over just five times in her last seven games and has produced 27 assists during that stretch. She currently ranks second in the Mountain West in assist/turnover ratio at 1.8 and has broken into the top-100 nationally in that category at 85th.

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 Division I 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, and did it again at UNLV. Schmid knocked down seven shots from beyond the arc in each of those games, the most since Ashley Bastian hit seven against Saint Mary's in 2001. At UNLV Schmid made all seven of her three's in the second half, and hit five alone in the fourth quarter. She finished the game with 23 points, two shy of tying her season-high. All of her points came in the second half. With 52 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.'