Turnovers plague Lady Rebels in loss to New Mexico

By Tiffany Gibson

Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010 | 11:41 p.m.

After losing to BYU, the UNLV women’s basketball team tightened its defense but couldn’t put a stop to the excessive turnovers in Saturday’s 63-54 loss to New Mexico.

New Mexico scored 19 points off 19 Rebels turnovers as the Lobos advanced to 1-1 in the Mountain West Conference. UNLV is now 0-2 in the conference and 7-9 overall.

“We’re very close to being a good basketball team,” UNLV coach Kathy Olivier said. “We’re not a good basketball team right now. We’re average and we want to be a great basketball team.”

The Rebels shot 32 percent overall and out rebounded New Mexico 40 to 36. UNLV’s strong defense and backcourt press disrupted the Lobos and did not allow New Mexico to settle into an offensive rhythm during the first half.

With 1.3 seconds left in the half, UNLV forced New Mexico into a shot clock violation. The Rebels trailed 26-20 at the half.

Coach Kathy Olivier said the team’s defense improved from the game against BYU, but turnovers are still hurting the Rebels.

She said they could have defeated New Mexico if the players would strengthen their foul-shot percentage and turnover ratio. The Rebels were 15-of-23 from the foul line.

Junior guard Erica Helms scored 17 points and grabbed three rebounds against New Mexico. Freshman guard Kelli Thompson had 10 points, including a 3-pointer that helped UNLV tie the game in the second half.

With less than seven minutes to play, Thompson set up on the left side of the 3-point arch and quickly released a shot that tied the game at 44. The Lobos came right back and took the lead, 48-44.

Thompson posted up on the left side again and nailed another 3-pointer, which brought the Rebels within one point at the five-minute mark.

In the first half, Thompson was 0-for-2 on 3-pointers.

“I couldn’t hit one (3-pointer) to save my life in the beginning of the game,” Thompson said. “Erica (Helms) got me pumped in saying, ‘Get to where you need to be and I’ll get you the ball.’”

She said the shots really motivated her teammates. But Thompson followed up with back-to-back turnovers that gave New Mexico the lead once again.

“I make my mistakes because I try to do so much,” Thompson said. “As a team, we just make too many silly mistakes.”

Olivier said the team didn’t execute well in the last five minutes of the game.

As the game came down to the wire, both teams had a lot of turnovers and fouls.

Sophomore forward Jamie Smith picked up her third foul six minutes into the second half and fouled out of the game with 52 seconds left.

“When you have three fouls, you have to play a little more conservative,” Smith said. “But toward the end of the game, when it’s getting close, you have to take chances like that, so I think I had a little trouble with that.”

Smith went to the foul line 10 minutes into the second half. With the ball in her hands, she worked herself underneath the basket and was fouled by senior center Valerie Kast while trying to score.

She made both foul shots and brought the Rebels within two points of New Mexico early on in the half.

“Jamie Smith has a championship mentality, and we need everyone to have that championship mentality,” Olivier said.

Smith rounded out the game with seven points and 10 rebounds.

The Rebels are scheduled to travel to San Diego Jan. 13 to take on San Diego State University. The two teams last met during the regular season when UNLV won, 71-66.

Smith said the team will have to work on taking care of the basketball to be ready for the next game. She said some of the younger women on the team need to have confidence and a winning mentality walking into San Diego’s gym.

SDSU is a talented team full of skilled athletes, Olivier said.

“They beat us at their place last year, and we had two close games here at the end of the regular season,” Olivier said. “They take advantage of every mistake.”