RENO, Nev. – After its first sweep of the conference season last weekend over Wyoming, Nevada is set to embark on a long road swing, that begins first with a pair of games at in-state rival UNLV this weekend. The first of the two games will be held this Saturday, Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. and the second game will take place this Monday, Feb. 1 at 1 p.m.

Nevada is feeling good after its two-game sweep of Wyoming last weekend, its first sweep of the conference season. UNLV is also coming off of a sweep as it took two games from Utah State earlier this week and is now 5-3 in league play, whereas Nevada sits at 3-5.

Silver State Series points could be on the line this weekend if either team were to sweep the two-game set. Should Nevada sweep UNLV, or UNLV sweep Nevada, that team would earn three points towards the Silver State Series, the competition that established a formal head-to-head athletic and academic challenge between longtime rivals -- the UNLV Rebels and the Nevada Wolf Pack. Originally called the Governor's Series, this all-encompassing competition will annually crown one school the winner of what is now the Silver State Series, presented by IBEW Local 401 and Nevada Donor Network. Nevada currently leads the 2020-21 Silver State Series 3-0 after football's win over UNLV in the fall.
 
ON THE AIR
Josh Suchon will have the call in Northern Nevada on CBS Sports Radio 94.1 FM and 1450 AM with a 20 minute pregame show prior to tipoff for both games. Fans can also tune in to listen to Suchon's broadcast online at TuneIn.com or via the TuneIn app.
 
Both games will also be live streamed on the Mountain West Network.

QUICK HITS
• With five wins, Levens will reach 100 victories in her Division I career
• Nevada and UNLV have split the regular season series for three straight years
• Silver State series points are on the line with both games this weekend
• Nevada will play eight games on the road before returning home
• The Pack ranks first in the Mountain West in free throw percentage

SERIES HISTORY
Nevada and UNLV have a long history and rivalry between them with Saturday marking the 48th game in the all-time series. The Lady Rebels have historically had the upper hand in the series, winning 35 of the 47 previous contests. The series has been a bit more evenly matched the past few years though since head coach Amanda Levens took over the Wolf Pack. In Levens' three seasons playing against UNLV, Nevada is 4-3 against the Lady Rebels and has split the regular season series in all three years. Perhaps the most notable victory over the Lady Rebels in the last few seasons was in 2018 when the Pack topped UNLV 77-73 in double overtime in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament, sending the Pack to the semifinals.

LAST TIME OUT (W, 57-50 vs. Wyoming)
• Amaya West scored a team and career-high 18 points
• Pack held Wyoming to 19 percent from the 3-point line
• Nevada outrebounded Wyoming for a second straight game
• Nia Alexander hit 700 career points in this game
• Megan Ormiston registered a season-high three blocks
• Pack held Wyoming to two single digit scoring quarters

WEST NAMED WOLF PACK STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Amaya West was a huge piece to the Wolf Pack's two-game sweep of Wyoming last weekend, the Pack's first sweep of the Mountain West season. With the two victories Nevada improved to 7-6 overall on the year and to 3-5 in league action.
 
In Sunday's series finale West led the Pack in scoring, totaling a career-high 18 points, her sixth game in double figures this season. The Arizona native shot 70 percent from the field, and hit two 3-pointers early in the first quarter that sparked Nevada's offense, which held the lead for the rest of the game. Additionally during the second game of the weekend she did not turn the ball over and dished out two assists. For the week West was perfect from the free throw line and connected on 52.9 percent of her shots in the two games. She added seven rebounds, two assists and one steal.

FREE THROWS ARE KEY
At the halfway mark of Mountain West play, Nevada has proven itself as one of the best free throw shooting teams in the Mountain West, and in the nation. Through 13 games the Wolf Pack is shooting 76.4 percent from the free throw line, first in the Mountain West and 32nd nationally. The Pack's best game from the line came during the win over Fresno Pacific where the team connected on 90.5 percent of its foul shots.

Individually junior LaPraisjah Johnson has been the Pack's top free throw shooter. Entering this weekend, Johnson has hit 89.2 percent of her shots from the free throw line.

MILESTONE WATCH
Nevada has a few players who are approaching milestones, some of whom could hit those numbers over the span of the next two games.

• Leta Otuafi - 18 points shy of 100
• Bethany Carstens - 32 points shy of 400

HAMILTON MAKING A NAME FOR HERSELF
Da'Ja Hamilton, who has started in all but one game this season, has established herself as one of the top guards in the Mountain West. Hamilton currently leads the team in scoring averaging 13.0 points per game and also leads with 42 assists. She's currently in the top 15 in the league in both categories. In the win over Fresno Pacific she produced the first 20-point game of her career, finishing with a career-high 24 points. She has scored in double figures in nine of the Pack's 13 games, including a stretch of four consecutive prior to the Wyoming series. Hamilton has been the Pack's top 3-point shooting threat, having made 17 shots from beyond the arc and boasts an assist to turnover ratio of 1.4.

STRONG PLAY FROM P
Thirteen games into the start of the 2020-21 season, LaPraisjah Johnson is making the most of her senior season. The Texas native is averaging 8.6 points per game, compared to just 1.9 points per game in seven total appearances last season. In the second game against New Mexico, Johnson scored a team and career-high 17 points and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. She also tied her career-high of seven rebounds in that game and was 4-of-7 from the field. Johnson scored a total of 13 points all of last season and eclipsed 100 points in her Wolf Pack career last week during the series at Fresno State.

ALEXANDER, HAMILTON NOTCH CAREER MILESTONES
Last weekend against Wyoming, senior Nia Alexander and junior Da'Ja Hamilton both notched personal career milestones. Alexander, who began her career at the University of San Francisco and played two seasons for the Dons, reached the 700 point mark in her collegiate career. The Washington native scored 383 points in her two seasons at USF and has scored 324 to date at Nevada. Her most productive season so far came during the 2018-19 season with the Dons where she produced 224 points and shot over 45 percent from the field.

Hamilton, in her junior season, scored her 500th point in her collegiate career last weekend. She is in the middle of her most offensively productive season as she leads the team and ranks in the top 15 in the Mountain West averaging 13.0 points per game through 13 games this season. Coming into the 2020-21 season, her highest scoring average for a season was 6.2 points per game, which came from the 2019-20 campaign.

UP NEXT: ROAD SWING CONTINUES
Nevada has a long road swing ahead of it, even after the UNLV series. Next week the Wolf Pack will travel to Boise, Idaho to face the defending Mountain West tournament champions Boise State next Friday and Sunday. Following that series the Pack will head to Fort Collins, Colo. to take on Colorado State Feb. 19 and 21 before its final home series against Utah State Feb. 25 and 27.