UNLV Lady Rebels center Desi-Rae Young (23) takes a shot against Wyoming Cowgirls center Allyson Fertig (45) in the first half of an NCAA basketball championship game during the Mountain West tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center Wednesday, March 8, 2023. STEVE MARCUS
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 | 10:33 p.m.
Tight score, an opponent that couldn’t miss, the season hanging in the balance — Wednesday’s Mountain West women’s championship game would have been nerve-wracking for most teams.
The UNLV women aren’t most teams.
Led by a veteran core that is not used to losing, the Scarlet and Gray kept their cool and pulled away late for a 71-60 victory over Wyoming to claim their second consecutive MWC championship.
Despite the pressure and the stakes, the final minutes were business as usual for Lindy La Rocque’s squad. They got the ball to Desi-Rae Young and Essence Booker and outscored Wyoming 19-11 in the fourth quarter to clinch another trip to the NCAA Tournament.
UNLV will head to the big dance on a 22-game winning streak.
After cutting down the nets, La Rocque said the outcome was never in doubt.
“I’m so incredibly proud of our team for doing whatever it takes,” La Rocque said. “They had the look in their eye this morning and I knew we were going to come away with this one.
“They wanted this more than anything.”
UNLV took a 31-28 advantage into halftime and opened an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter, but Wyoming hung around by connecting on 5-of-6 3-point attempts in the period. La Rocque’s been-there done-that crew never panicked. They simply turned up the intensity on defense and held Wyoming to 33.3% from the field in the fourth quarter, allowing Young and Booker to slam the door on the other end.
When the stakes were highest, UNLV’s lethal duo combined to score the team’s final 14 points down the stretch.
Young finished with 28 points and 17 rebounds and was named Tournament MVP for her efforts. The junior center made 13-of-20 shots from the field, and three times in the fourth quarter she collected an offensive rebound and scored on the putback to keep UNLV in control.
Booker had an efficient scoring night, totaling 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Eight of her 19 came in the fourth quarter.
La Rocque said UNLV’s ability to score consistently in crunch time was the difference.
“We knew if we could keep scoring it would have been hard for them to keep up with,” La Rocque said. “We knew going into the last 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, like all right, now it’s winning time. We’ve got to go on a run, we’ve got to really lock in defensively, and rebound.”
After racking up a 31-2 record and finishing off an undefeated run through conference play, UNLV can now turn its attention to the NCAA Tournament — after midterms. La Rocque said senior center Alyssa Brown had a midterm on Wednesday morning, and several other players have to take their exams on Thursday and Friday. La Rocque plans to give the team those two days off before reconvening for basketball activities on Saturday.
UNLV will learn its tournament destination and opponent on Sunday.
After nearly pulling a first-round upset as a No. 13 seed last year, Young and her teammates are focused on making a longer run this time.
“I think we did great job last year,” Young said, “we just fell a little short. I think this year we’re going to come out 10 times stronger. Coach Lindy said people should be mad that they have to play us. People should be fearful of us, because we’re coming in with an aggression that we didn’t have that much last year. We want it this year.”
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
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