UNLV Overpowers Cougars in Hard-Fought Contest
LAS -- The Cougars suffered another disappointing loss Thursday night, falling 64-77 at UNLV and dropping to 1-5 in the Mountain West Conference. The Cougars have lost all three of their Conference road games.
BYU fell behind early and played catch-up for most of the first half before finally battling back to take the lead and head into the locker room up 28-27. UNLV came out hot and scored the first six points of the second half but BYU got back into it and continually challenged the Rebels for the lead as both teams battled back and forth.
But then UNLV turned up the heat, going on a 13-3 run to take the largest lead of the game at 52-43. Despite eight points from junior guard Julie Sullivan over the next six minutes, the Cougars could not recover and finally surrendered to their biggest MWC loss this season.
"They out-toughed us at every position," said BYU Head Coach Jeff Judkins. "They were more physical and more aggressive."
Three Cougars scored in double figures, with sophomore forward Ambrosia Anderson and junior guard Kali Taylor each contributing 13 points. Jennie Overdiek added 10 points in the Cougar loss. Junior forward RanDee Henry led the Rebels with a game-high 25 points and 20 rebounds. Sherry McCracklin also starred for the Rebels, scoring 20 points.
UNLV enjoyed a distinct rebounding advantage, pulling down 49 boards to BYU's 33. The Cougars were hardest hit on the offensive glass as UNLV grabbed 24 offensive rebounds while BYU managed just 10. Fouls were again a problem for the Cougars. BYU was whistled for 27 fouls, allowing the Rebels to shoot 30-for-42 from the charity stripe. BYU turned 18 UNLV fouls around to shoot just 13-for-16 from the stripe.
The Cougar bench came up big, scoring 29 points while UNLV's bench contributed a dismal 3. UNLV also struggled from the three-point line, shooting just 14 percent compared to BYU's 25 percent.
With the loss, the Cougars drop to 11-9 overall and 1-5 in the Mountain West Conference. The UNLV Rebels improve to 16-3 overall and 5-1 in Conference, maintaining their second place MWC standing. BYU will next be in action Saturday at 6 p.m. Mountain Time at San Diego State.
Official Basketball Box Score -- GAME TOTALS -- FINAL STATISTICSBYU vs UNLV
02/05/04 7:30 pm at Las Vegas, Nev. (Cox Pavilion)
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VISITORS: BYU (11-9, 1-5 MWC)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 OVERDIEK, Jennie.... f 5-8 0-1 0-2 3 1 4 2 10 1 1 0 1 29
33 ANDERSON, Ambrosia.. f 4-10 1-3 4-4 1 2 3 5 13 3 5 0 0 29
51 CHEESMAN, Danielle.. c 2-7 0-1 0-0 1 5 6 3 4 0 2 1 1 25
14 SULLIVAN, Julie..... g 3-13 0-2 2-2 1 2 3 4 8 1 6 0 0 27
24 HANSEN, Hollie...... g 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 16
01 SELJAAS, Nancy...... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 2 10
04 DOOLEY, Kestlee..... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 1 2 2 1 0 1 18
25 TAYLOR, Kali........ 4-7 2-3 3-4 1 1 2 3 13 1 0 0 1 18
32 KOZLOWSKI, Kristen.. 2-3 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 1 6 0 0 0 0 12
40 CHAMBERLAIN, A...... 3-5 0-0 0-0 2 4 6 5 6 0 3 0 0 16
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 24-57 3-12 13-16 10 23 33 27 64 9 20 1 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-27 .370 2nd Half: 14-30 .467 Game: .421 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-8 .250 2nd Half: 1-4 .250 Game: .250 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 6-6 1.000 2nd Half: 7-10 .700 Game: .812 1
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HOME TEAM: UNLV (16-3, 5-1)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
21 HITCHENS, Nikki..... f 1-5 0-1 1-2 4 1 5 3 3 1 3 0 4 22
22 HENRY, RanDee....... f 7-16 0-4 11-17 11 9 20 3 25 1 3 0 1 35
54 MCCRACKLIN, Sherry.. c 6-10 0-0 8-9 2 11 13 3 20 0 5 0 2 35
00 MOORE, Sheena....... g 6-16 2-8 5-6 2 1 3 1 19 4 1 0 3 39
31 ROBINSON, InFini.... g 1-9 1-8 4-4 3 0 3 3 7 4 5 0 0 31
01 CLARK, Nejlah....... 0-0 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 8
03 SIMMONS, Kameca..... 0-0 0-0 1-2 1 2 3 1 1 3 1 0 1 16
40 STRONG, Padra....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
44 COLEMAN, Shana...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
51 LOFTUS, Amy......... 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 5
TEAM................
Totals.............. 22-60 3-21 30-42 24 25 49 18 77 13 19 0 11 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-34 .294 2nd Half: 12-26 .462 Game: .367 DEADBALL
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-8 .000 2nd Half: 3-13 .231 Game: .143 REBOUNDS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-15 .467 2nd Half: 23-27 .852 Game: .714 3
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Officials: Randy Campbell, Peter Contreras, Les Williams
Technical fouls: BYU-None. UNLV-None.
Attendance: 625
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
BYU........................... 28 36 - 64
UNLV.......................... 27 50 - 77
ID-212233