Lady Rebels end road woes

Friday, Feb. 25, 2005 | 9:42 a.m.

SUN STAFF REPORTS

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Senior forward RanDee Henry scored a game-high 23 points and UNLV held off a determined Air Force squad to earn a 70-63 victory in Mountain West Conference women's basketball action Thursday night at the Clune Arena.

The win, the Lady Rebels' first conference road win of the year, improved them to 15-10 overall, and their fourth consecutive MWC win moved them alone into fourth place at 6-5. The Falcons fell to 7-17, 2-9 in league play.

Though UNLV won the first meeting between the two 76-51 earlier this year in Las Vegas, the Falcons kept the game close the entire contest, and held an early 14-11 lead six minutes into the game. After the Falcons broke the seventh tie of the game on a Letricia Castillo jumper, making the score 26-24, UNLV ran off seven unanswered points and never trailed again.

A three-point play from Nikki Hitchens first gave the lead back to the Lady Rebels, and then Sheena Moore came up with a steal and turned it into a layup on back-to-back possessions for a 31-26 edge with six minutes to play in the half.

UNLV led by as many as eight before a Pamela Findlay 3-pointer brought Air Force within five, 39-34, going into halftime. With UNLV holding a 45-38 second-half lead on a three-point play from Henry, a 6-0 Falcons run cut the to advantage to just one, 45-44, on a steal and layup by Alecia Steele. Moore answered back with a trey to push the UNLV edge to 48-44.

The Lady Rebels led by as much as 10 twice in the second half, the last 61-51 with eight minutes on the clock on an Amy Loftus layup.

Henry was 9-of-15 from the floor for her 23 points, and added seven rebounds. Moore poured in 14 points, while Hitchens posted her first career double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lady Rebels finished with nine steals while forcing 17 turnovers.

The Lady Rebels remain on the road for their next game, taking on New Mexico in a CSTV game at 1 p.m. Saturday in Albuquerque.