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 STATISTICS
BYU 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