Cold shooting has Lady Rebels behind

UNLV shot just 22.9 percent from the field in the first half and finds itself down 28-21 to Wyoming in a first-round in the Mountain West Conference women’s tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center on Tuesday.

The Rebels knocked down just 8 of 35 shots from the floor in the half and are 0-for-8 from the 3-point line.

Kelli Thompson leads UNLV with six points, but it took her six shots to get them. Jamie Smith already has 11 rebounds, helping the Rebels seize a 28-19 advantage on the glass.

Aubrey Vandiver hit a layup at the buzzer to extend the lead back to seven after UNLV had scored four straight to close the gap.

Vandiver has 11 points at the break. Hillary Carlson has 10 points and three blocked shots.

The Rebels held an early 6-5 lead, but Wyoming scored seven straight points to take control of the game.

UNLV should be thrilled to be down just seven the way it shot in the first half. It actually has a chance to win the game if the shots start falling.

Homecourt advantage?

You’re not going to hear any MWC women’s coaches complaining about the tournament being in Las Vegas.

It’s possible UNLV has the fewest amount of fans of any of the six schools that have been in action today.

They are certainly the quietest.

Obviously, most of the fans that are here to watch the other schools came to town to watch the men’s team and are here to watch the women because they have all-session passes.

That is really no excuse for why the UNLV fans can’t be here, however.

The Wyoming men’s team is also here. If the UNLV men are here, they are not sitting together in a group like the Cowboys.

Warning

Larry Chin is the longtime equipment manager for the UNLV women’s basketball team and is clearly one of its biggest fans.

That can be a problem when you are sitting on the bench.

After a very questionable technical foul on Markiell Styles, Chin was not happy.

He let his opinion be known from the end of the UNLV bench and one of rhe referees came over to tell Lady Rebel coach Kathy Olivier to keep Chin quiet.

Olivier went right over and said something in his ear.

The last thing a team can afford in a postseason game is a technical foul on the equipment manager.