UC Riverside
UNLV
Women's Basketball Falls 71-61 to UNLV
12/28/2008 5:28:52 PM | Women's Basketball
(Las Vegas, NV) - The UC Riverside women's basketball team fell 71-61 to UNLV (6-5) on Sunday afternoon at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, NV. The Highlanders have now lost four games in a row as they fall to 3-8 on the season.
Heading into the second half with a 32-30 lead, UCR struggled early on as UNLV went on a 20 to four run to take a 50-36 lead with 10:41 remaining. A layup by Seyram Gbewonyo (Sylmar, CA) at the 8:13 mark brought the Highlanders to within 10 at 53-43.
UCR then cut the lead to seven, 59-52 on a Kemie Nkele (San Diego, CA) three-pointer at 4:47 before the Lady Rebels responded with a trey of their own to push the lead back to ten as they eventually closed out the game.
Nkele paced the Highlanders with a game-high 21 points and 13 boards, her third double-double of the year. Providing some offense in her first start of the year, Jessie Schmuckal (Chula Vista, CA) went 5-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc for a career high 13 points. Gbewonyo chipped in 12 points and nine boards.
In the first half UCR came out of the gate cold and were held scoreless for the first five minutes of play as UNLV opened up an 11-0 lead. From that point on, however, UCR systematically came back and tied the game at 16-16 on Katerina Glyniadaki's (Chania, Greece) layup with 8:28 left in the half. Less than 30 seconds later the Highlanders took the lead 18-16 on two Ronéy Friend (Los Angeles, CA) free throws as they would head into the locker room with a 32-30 lead.
