Lady Rebels lose OT battle for Mountain West top spot to San Diego State

Some losses have that extra sting, a feeling that would be easy to forget when you haven’t suffered a defeat in a month.

On Saturday at The Pavilion, San Diego State gave the UNLV women’s basketball team a consequential reminder of that stinging, lingering pain.

With the No. 1 spot in the Mountain West conference and the continuation of a seven-game win streak at stake, the Lady Rebels took a 75-66 overtime defeat against the reigning league champions.

Both teams entered the matchup with a 7-0 record in conference play, tying them for the No. 1 spot. For UNLV, a victory would have avenged the 71-59 loss it took from the Aztecs in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament championship game last year — a defeat that ended the Lady Rebels’ dominant run of three straight conference titles.

Aaliyah Alexander led a quartet of double-digit scorers for UNLV with 18 points, while Jasmyn Lott and Shelbee Brown each added 13. Starting point guard Mairah Elohim recorded 11 points, one assist and two turnovers for the Lady Rebels.

San Diego State was led by guard Naomi Panganiban and Nat Martinez, who scored 20 and 19 points, respectively.

Although UNLV gave up 24 turnovers to San Diego State’s 16, they still had an opportunity to win.

UNLV started the contest on a 13-5 run as Alexander led all scorers in the first quarter with seven points, but the Aztecs held the Lady Rebels to a three-minute scoring drought to cut the lead to 15-13 entering the second period.

After the Aztecs narrowly won the second period 17-16, UNLV was outscored 21-15 in the third.

After San Diego State led by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter, Elohim hit a 3-pointer to tie the score with 1:09 left to play. Brown gave UNLV the lead with a fast-break layup, but Panganiban answered for the Aztecs with a 3-pointer. Lott landed at the free-throw line in the final 18 seconds of regulation and made one of her two attempts to send the game to overtime.

Despite the battle to make it to overtime, the Lady Rebels disappeared in the extra period. Alexander was the only player to score a field goal for UNLV in the five-minute period as the Lady Rebels were outscored 12-3.

The Lady Rebels next host Air Force on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.