Lott takes over in Lady Rebels' dominant first win
· Yahoo Sports
LAS VEGAS – Redshirt senior guard Jasmyn Lott is one of two players on the current Lady Rebels roster who shared the floor with program great Desi-Rae Young (Class of 2024).
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Therefore, it was only fitting that Lott stole the show on a night when Young’s No. 23 jersey was retired.
Lott followed up the pregame celebrations with a game-high 22-point performance — one point shy of tying her career high — to lead UNLV to a dominant 69-51 victory over the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) in its home curtain raiser.
Lott spoke about how much her relationship with Young means to her afterward and that extra fire in her belly may have inadvertently helped her break out of a bit of a slump.
“Nobody deserves it more than her,” Lott said. “[Young] is UNLV. I’ve looked up to her since [I was a freshman]. I really love her a lot, and I wish her nothing but the best.”
Lott led the Lady Rebels in scoring with 9 points at halftime before taking over the game with an 11-point third quarter. UNLV outscored its visitors 26-16 in the period to take a cozy 53-37 advantage into the last 10 minutes.
The Frisco, Texas native shot 6-for-13 from the field (3-for-7 3PT) and a perfect 7-for-7 at the line. She looked like anything but a player lacking confidence. Yet this type of outing might have been exactly what she needed to open the floodgates offensively.
“I don’t really go into any game thinking this is going to be my night,” Lott said. “I’ve been struggling with my confidence a lot, so I just kind of try to help my team as best as I can.”
A smile beamed from Lott’s face when she was asked how it felt to see her shots fall regularly tonight.
“Much better,” she added. “It kind of alleviated some of the pressure that I put on myself with everything I do.”
Although the Lady Rebels ended up winning by 18 — improving to 1-1 on the year — they needed every bit of Lott’s shot-making to stay afloat early.
UNLV shot poorly in the first quarter. At one point, they were 2-for-18 from the field and went into the break shooting 9-for-35. However, they found some rhythm in the second frame, edging in front for a 27-21 lead.
Despite the struggles, head coach Lindy La Rocque was pleased with what her team was doing offensively and believed it would turn into points eventually. She was right.
“I thought we got some good looks. We missed a couple of easy layups that we’d like back, and the threes that we were taking I was happy with, and they just weren’t going in,” La Rocque said. “[UTSA] was really packing the paint and honestly, a shot attempt is better than a turnover, so I was proud that we were getting our shots up.”
La Rocque trusted her shooters and her entire team entered a flow state after the interval.
The Lady Rebels began the third quarter with an excellent play design which saw Meadow Roland find Lott on a backdoor cut for an easy finish inside — taking the latter into double figures.
Lott then added a triple, with UNLV off to a 7-0 start to the frame.
Roland did a bit of everything for the hosts, chipping in 11 points, eight rebounds, and four assists on 4-for-8 shooting. Freshman guard Jayla Constant posted 7 points, five rebounds, and three dimes. Bergan Kinnebrew had 8 points, one block, and three steals.
Marley Washenitz made a big impact off the bench, giving UNLV a spark defensively. She filled the stat sheet with 5 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Norah Moo commanded the glass with 11 boards, adding four points.
The Lady Rebels had seven fewer turnovers than UTSA through three quarters. They ended with 18, but La Rocque had emptied her bench with over two minutes remaining in the fourth. Overall, that was a positive coming off a season-opening loss to No. 3 USC, where UNLV committed turnovers galore.
Another characteristic of a good team is when you can gut out a win despite shooting 20-for-61 (32.8 percent) as a collective.
The Lady Rebels are more talented than their efficiency suggests. That bodes well for La Rocque and how much better her group can get as the campaign progresses.