Lady Rebels lose exhibition opener

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.

Despite a strong effort from its post game, the UNLV women's basketball team dropped their exhibition opener to NWBL 83-75 on Tuesday night at the Cox Pavilion.

The Lady Rebels held a 38-29 edge at halftime, but committed 17 turnovers in the second half, which led to NWBL's comeback.

UNLV came out firing, hitting seven of its first 10 shots en route to a 22-6 lead after the first eight minutes.

But NWBL would hang in behind the play of Felicity Willis, who posted 10 first-half points, and cut the lead to 38-29 by intermission.

The Lady Rebels saw their lead slowly trimmed in the second half, as NWBL turned up the defensive pressure, and they took their first lead of the second half on a basket from Willis at 6:12 for a 62-61 advantage.

UNLV's Amy Loftus answered back with a basket at the other end to push the Lady Rebels back up by one. The teams then traded baskets, but a three-point play with 5:04 left from Petra Ujhely gave NWBL the lead for good, as it started a 10-0 run over the next 2:38 to seal the game. Two free throws from Willis capped the run for a 74-65 advantage with 2:26 left in the game.

Sophomore Sheena Moore led the Lady Rebels with 18 points, but the highlight of the night was the inside play of junior forward RanDee Henr. She scored scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and added seven rebounds.

Teammate Sherry McCracklin added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Loftus contributed eight points and four rebounds off the bench.

NWBL was paced by Alissa Murphy with 24 points, including 14 in the second half, while Willis added 23. Becky Staubes added 10 points.

The Lady Rebels will play their second exhibition game of the season on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the Latvian Select team at the Cox Pavilion.