‘It’s not even February:’ Lady Rebels comfortable with competition for Mountain West crown

Lindy La Rocque’s reason to smile Saturday?

She can read a calendar.

The UNLV women’s basketball coach is using that timetable to cool overreactions after she watched her team take a 75-66 overtime loss to San Diego State in a battle for the top spot in the Mountain West conference at The Pavilion.

It was the Lady Rebels’ first loss since they closed a tough nonconference schedule on Dec. 13 with a 5-5 record.

“We kind of forgot what it felt like to kind of get punched,” La Rocque said Saturday as her grin widened. “So this isn’t a bad reminder. It’s not a bad reminder. It’s not even February yet.”

That’s what La Rocque emphasized to a locker room peppered with sad faces, each wishing they could have made at least one different play, she said.

“I think they’re gonna react however I do,” she said when asked about her team’s energy following the loss. “I asked them if it was March.”

Of course, La Rocque knows a lot about being victorious in springtime. The Lady Rebels won three straight conference tournament championships in four years under her leadership, a streak that ended when San Diego State eliminated UNLV from the semifinals last year en route to securing the crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Although San Diego State and UNLV entered Saturday’s matchup with 7-0 records in conference play, ESPN’s women’s basketball bracketology expert had already counted UNLV out of the running to go dancing in favor of the Aztecs.

Saturday marked a missed opportunity for UNLV to prove they shouldn’t be underestimated.

But there will be two more chances against the Mountain West rival this regular season.

“We get them again at their place,” La Rocque said. “So this doesn’t decide the conference championship, but it was a great game.”

Until then, UNLV has work to do.

“Maybe (it’s) good to feel some of that disappointment, but then come back Monday and fix it. Fix it. That’s the message.”

There’s plenty to fix. Guard Aaliyah Alexander’s 18 points led the Lady Rebels, who gave up 24 turnovers to the Aztecs’ 16.

“It’s a big game with a lot on the line. … And they’re young players,” La Rocque said. “We’re asking Aaliyah Alexander to play the point guard, and she’s never done that in her 23 years of life. She’s got three months’ experience of it. And I think you saw some of that.”

The other solvable problem came from a lack of answers to the Aztecs’ potent defense, which became especially evident when the Lady Rebels were outscored 12-3 in overtime.

“We kind of got scrambled in a panic and then tried to do some different things to try to make up some points and see if they’d make a mistake, and they didn’t,” La Rocque said.

In evidence of La Rocque’s postgame words resonating quickly for her players, forward Shelbee Brown expressed confidence in her teammates after recording 13 points and eight rebounds in the loss.

Brown also scored a key layup to help send UNLV into overtime.

“I think we’re a good team and we’re going to do better next time,” Brown said. “We can do what we want at will, and we can guard. We just need to score just a little bit better under pressure.”

La Rocque is hoping that both teams keep winning so the stakes will feel the same when they meet again in San Diego on Feb. 18.

“I’d love to be playing them at their place and maybe they’re undefeated, maybe they’re not,” La Rocque said. “But with the same first place (title) on the line, I’d love that.”