LAS VEGAS — Saniyah Hall opened the third quarter with a jumper, then stole the ball and scored again. No. 3 USC had led by 13 at halftime. The Trojans scored the first nine points after the break and beat UNLV 100-68 Monday in the season opener at T-Mobile Arena.
USC shot 14-for-20 in the third quarter and outscored the Lady Rebels 31-10. The Trojans scored 13 fast-break points in those 10 minutes. UNLV finished the game with three.
“I mean, we won two out of the four quarters,” UNLV coach Lindy La Rocque said afterward. “And the two that we lost really got away from us.”
JuJu Watkins scored after another offensive rebound, and Hall made a three with 6:42 remaining to finish a 9-0 start to the half. The Trojans led 61-39 before UNLV made its first basket.
Trystan James finally scored on a putback with 6:05 left. She added another layup on the Lady Rebels’ next possession, taking a pass from Jayla Constant. Neither basket brought a defensive stop. Jazzy Davidson scored between them, Kennedy Smith answered the second, and USC outscored UNLV 20-6 over the final 5:36 of the period.
UNLV made only one more field goal in that stretch: Maia Rosarion‘s putback with 4:14 remaining. For the rest of the quarter, its scoring came from four free throws. USC kept taking the ball away and converting at the other end.
Davidson led USC with 23 points on 10-for-11 shooting. Hall added 22, making seven of eight field-goal attempts and three of four threes. Watkins scored 21 with five rebounds and two assists. The three combined for 66 points, two fewer than UNLV’s entire team.
USC finished with 13 steals and scored 32 points off 24 Lady Rebel turnovers. UNLV forced 16 turnovers but produced only seven points from them. USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said her team knew it would face young guards and wanted its length to make their possessions difficult. “Our intent was to disrupt and to make it hard for people,” she said. “We have so much length. We have so much capability defensively. So we like to turn people over.”
“We don’t love having 24 turnovers and I think everyone chipped in there,” La Rocque said.
UNLV also had difficulty finishing when it did keep possession. USC blocked eight shots. Marley Washenitz went 2-for-12 from the floor, Lott was 3-for-9 and Roland 2-for-6. The Lady Rebels shot 34.9 percent overall, while the Trojans made 58.8 percent. USC scored 52 points in the paint to UNLV’s 24, a gap that ran through the game rather than appearing only during the decisive stretch.
The Lady Rebels did produce an advantage on the glass. They outrebounded USC 40-35, collected 21 offensive rebounds and scored 22 second-chance points.
Norah Moo had six offensive rebounds among her seven total. Maia Rosarion also finished with seven rebounds, four at the offensive end, while leading UNLV with 12 points in 11 minutes.
UNLV’s best offensive quarter had come before halftime, when it made eight of 16 shots and four of six threes. USC had already built a 29-15 lead in the opening period. Lewis supplied two second-quarter threes, Washenitz made another and Lott connected late. UNLV outscored USC 24-23 in those 10 minutes, trimming just one point from its deficit.
La Rocque recovered a possession late in the half by successfully challenging an out-of-bounds call after a missed Washenitz shot. Lott made a three with 19 seconds remaining to bring UNLV to 52-38. James then drew a rebounding foul and made one free throw with four seconds left.
Kennedy Smith finished with 12 points, four steals and three assists, while Sitaya Fagan added 11 points off the bench. UNLV could not concentrate its defense on Watkins without leaving another productive scorer room to work.
“Our game plan wasn’t centered around her, nor was it centered around any one player because they’re so talented,” La Rocque said of Watkins.
La Rocque had identified transition defense as a priority before tipoff. “They are so good in the open court,” she said in her pregame radio interview. “We’ve got to sprint back, kind of do our jobs.” The turnovers repeatedly denied UNLV the chance to organize that defense.
UNLV returns home Friday to face UTSA. Read more on what Lindy La Rocque learned about her young backcourt and rotation against USC.
