Lady Rebels win 16th game

January 26, 2012 by Danny Webster 

After defeating BSU, UNLV records most victories in a season since 2005-06 season

Kelli Thompson scored a game-high 24 points and had four steals as UNLV (16-5, 4-1) won their first Mountain West Conference home game of the season against MWC newcomer Boise State by a final count of 66-50.

Thompson has been playing with two torn ligaments in her wrist for the last couple of games, forcing head coach Kathy Olivier to sit her in the last two practices.

That didn’t faze the Lady Rebels’ leading scorer on Wednesday night.
“I’ve been fighting this wrist injury and I’ve just been trying to get back [into form],” Thompson said. “I’m sick of this injury so I’m just going to do everything I can to put the ball in the basket.”

The 16th win marks the most games the Lady Rebels have won in a season since the 2005-06 season.

“It’s super early to have 16 wins,” Olivier said. “But for right now, we’re just taking it one game at a time and we have to make sure we keep playing defense the way we can.”

Boise State began the game by attacking the rim, knowing that the Lady Rebels were without leading rebounder Lenita Sanford, who was sitting out with a knee injury she suffered in the win against TCU on Jan. 18. The Broncos’ first five baskets of the game were layups.

“[The injury] is definitely serious,” Olivier said, regarding Sanford’s status. “She’s had to do rehab and her knee is pretty swollen. What we’ve got to do is we need to make sure we don’t put her in too soon.”

Olivier said Sanford may sit out one more game before returning to the court.

The Lady Rebels’ went into halftime leading 26-18, but had a difficulty putting the ball in the basket as UNLV shot 38 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. As the second half got underway, Boise State opened the half on an 11-2 run and took a 29-28 lead, forcing UNLV to take a timeout to the displeasure of their head coach.

“I was mad,” Olivier laughed. “But, we’re a good team and I know we could’ve done better [coming out of the second half].”

Leading 52-46 with 8:02 left, the Lady Rebels closed out the game with a 14-4 run, 12 from Thompson. The junior shooting guard capped off an impressive night with back-to-back three-pointers for her second highest scoring output of the season.

“The last two games, she didn’t shoot the ball well, but she did a lot of other things well,” Olivier said of Thompson. “She shot the ball with ease, she shot the ball with confidence and I thought her game was absolutely tremendous.”

UNLV will now focus their attention to Saturday as they welcome the Air Force Academy to the Cox Pavilion for the first meeting of the year.

The Falcons (5-15, 0-5) are coming off a loss on Wednesday to TCU, 66-44, where they were outscored 27-4 in the first half.

AFA’s leading scorer is Alicia Leipprandt, who averages close to 14 points per game. Dymond James, who led the Falcons with 14 in the loss to the Horned Frogs, is the second leading scorer with a shade under 13 points a game.

“We’re just going to prepare for [Air Force] like we do for everyone else,” Thompson said. “It’s going to be a tough game and they’re feisty. So we’ll just have to see what happens.”