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UNLV went inside to overcome a career-high shooting performance by Hawaii’s Amy Atwell in a 70-63 win over the Rainbow Wahine basketball team on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Atwell drained a seven 3-pointers, one shy of the program record, and finished with a game-high 28 points. But UNLV countered with 36-12 advantage in paint, led by center Desi-Rae Young’s 20 points, to hold off UH at Cox Pavilion.
“We have to get more balance,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview. “We can’t have Amy be the only offensive threat and tonight she really was.”
The Rainbow Wahine closed their nonconference schedule at 3-6 and will open Big West play on Dec. 30 at UC Riverside.
UH did most of its scoring from behind the 3-point arc, going 12-for-32 from long range and 8-for-28 on 2-point shots. UNLV (8-3) shot 44% from the field despite a 1-for-16 showing on 3-point attempts.
Atwell opened the scoring with a 3-pointer to claim sole possession of second place on UH’s career chart, breaking a tie at 146 with Ashleigh Karaitiana (2013-16). She went on to finish 8-for-15 from the field, including 7-for-13 from 3-point range, and made all five of her free-throw attempts in 24:23 of playing time. She also led the Wahine with six rebounds.
“Amy puts the work in,” Beeman said. “There are players all over the place who think they can show up on game night and put in 28 points and it doesn’t work that way. Those 28 points have been earned since July.
“She worked for those shots, she was moving off the ball, she was crisp in what we were running offensively. I’ll give Amy all the credit in the world, she has put the work in to be able to get 28 points.”
Atwell sat out much of the second quarter after picking up her second foul at the 6:03 mark and the Wahine managed just three points the rest of the period and went into halftime tied at 26-26. After Atwell went to the bench with her third foul with 8:07 left in the third quarter McKenna Haire hit a 3-pointer to give UH a 36-30 lead.
UNLV went to work in the post with Young, who went into halftime with just two points, scored eight consecutive points from close range in a 12-0 run that pushed the Rebels ahead for good.
The Rebels shot 7-for-10 from the field in the third period and opened up a 50-40 lead on Young’s putback early in the fourth quarter. UH closed to within four on three occasions, the last coming when Atwell threw in a wild 3-pointer with 11.1 seconds left, but would get no closer. UNLV went 12-for-18 from the free-throw line in the fourth to hold off the Rainbow Wahine.
“You always want to see fight from your team and I think this group competes,” Beeman said. “The problem is we should never have been down 10 to put ourselves in a position where we have to have that kind of fight.
“We executed well off the boards, we hit some big 3s to keep us in it, but we never should have been in that position. If you’re going to have that kind of fight to get back in a game then it needs to be sustained for 40 minutes.”
UNLV guard Essence Booker complemented Young with 12 points and Kiara Jackson added 11. Atwell was UH’s lone scorer in double figures with guard Olivia Davies next with eight points.
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