UNLV Lady Rebels guard Essence Booker, left, Alyssa Durazo-Frescas (12) and Desi-Rae Young (23) celebrate with the Mountain West trophy after defeating the San Jose State Spartans at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023 | 8:52 p.m.
For the UNLV women’s basketball team, winning has become routine.
It’s the ultimate compliment, and it is well deserved, especially after the Scarlet and Gray dismantled San Jose State, 77-60, on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The victory was the program’s 16th in a row and improved their record in Mountain West play to a perfect 15-0 — good enough to clinch the conference’s regular-season championship for a second straight year.
After the final buzzer sounded, the ladies were presented with a trophy at center court, and fans were welcomed to come down and meet the team.
As everyone mingled for photos and autographs, the permeating feeling was half glee, half been-there-done-that.
Head coach Lindy La Rocque, the architect responsible for building UNLV into a juggernaut, had already turned her attention to the Mountain West tournament just minutes after handing off the trophy to her players.
“We’ve got a lot left out there to still improve upon,” La Rocque said. “It’s a little nice, honestly, to kind of get this one over with. It’s like okay, yeah, let’s get back to preparing to win the real championship, and that one that really, really matters, even more importantly than this.”
Regular-season titles? Yawn.
La Rocque’s overt message is that UNLV, which jumped into the Associated Press Top 25 this week for the first time in nearly 30 years, will have to keep winning in order to achieve its true goal — a return trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Fortunately, winning is what the UNLV women do best. Going back to last year, they have won 30 of their last 33 Mountain West contests, including their run to the league tournament championship last March.
The team’s full might was on display against San Jose State, if in fits and starts.
After a clunky first quarter, UNLV switched to a zone defense and immediately embarked on a game-turning 15-0 run. UNLV held San Jose State to 2-of-14 shooting in the second quarter and took a 37-18 lead at halftime.
Junior center Desi-Rae Young found Alyssa Durazo-Frescas for a baseline jumper early in the third quarter to make it 45-25, and from there it was just a countdown to the trophy presentation.
Young, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year — and favorite to win it again this year — finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.
Much like her head coach, Young couldn’t help but temper her enthusiasm in the wake of the title celebration.
“We could have played better, but we’re really excited to be champions,” Young said.
Sophomore forward Alyssa Brown led UNLV with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while senior guard Essence Booker dished out 12 assists. Sophomore guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas canned four 3-pointers and tallied 14 points.
UNLV has three games remaining in the regular season, and the Mountain West tournament begins March 5. The Scarlet and Gray will enter as the No. 1 seed, seeking to complement their back-to-back regular-season titles by repeating as tourney champs.
Routine or not, La Rocque did hand it to her squad for rising to the challenge and earning each and every victory this season.
“Winning the regular season is really difficult,” La Rocque said. “So this is a big-time championship. I’m really proud of our team.
“They deserve it.”
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
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