Women’s basketball: Nevada hangs on for win, advances to 2nd round

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - 8:08 PM

Nevada guard Johnna Ward, right, scored 12 points in the Wolf Pack's 64-59 win over Boise State in the first round of the WAC Tournament Wednesday. Photo by Casey Durkin/The Nevada Sagebrush

The Nevada women’s basketball team used a composed effort to advance to the Western Athletic Conference semifinals, defeating sixth-seeded Boise State 64-59 Wednesday evening at Lawlor Events center in front of 3,145 in attendance.

The Wolf Pack appeared nervous to start the game, allowing Boise State to jump out to an early 14-4 lead.

“This is my first WAC tournament so of course I was extremely nervous,” Nevada guard Tahnee Robinson said. “I airballed my first three-pointer, so that was kind of embarrassing, but I was really nervous. I think as the game went on my nerves, along with the rest of my teammates’, kind of went away once we started playing like we usually do.”

As the anxiety wore off, the Wolf Pack went on a 19-1 run to take a 23-15 lead with seven minutes remaining in the first half, taking a 27-25 lead into halftime.

“I was really proud that we didn’t lose our composure and came back,” Nevada coach Jane Albright said. “I was extremely proud of the way that we finished the game.”

The Wolf Pack used that same energy to open up the second half as it grabbed a 43-33 lead, on the heels of four three pointers. Boise State would not back down though and fought back to take a 54-53 lead with 4:32 left in the game.

With the game coming down to the wire, the Wolf Pack relied on its poise to win the game, making clutch free throws and grabbing key rebounds.

“We composed ourselves really well,” Robinson said. “Free throws may look like they’re simple and the crowd gets mad when you miss one, but actually they are very nerve-wracking and they are very tough. Free throws are probably more mental than anything else. If we didn’t make our free throws tonight I don’t think that we would have won the game, so it all came down to that. Overall, we composed ourselves really, really well.”

The Wolf Pack hit nine of its final 12 free throws after falling behind by one. With Nevada up by three and 16 seconds left in the game, guard Amanda Johnson missed both free throw attempts, but forward Shavon Moore came up big with the offensive rebound.

“It just comes down to knowing you have to get a rebound,” Moore said. “We have to get that rebound because if we don’t make that free throw then we don’t want them to get another chance and go back and score on us.”

Nevada’s rebounding effort was a key to its victory all through the game, as it outrebounded Boise State 46-35, pulling down 20 offensive boards and converting them into 20 second chance points.

“Obviously this defeat can be attributed to second-chance opportunities and not rebounding,” Boise State coach Gordy Presnell said. “We just kind of stood up. We were just standing next to them instead of blocking out. Sometimes in pressure situations, sometimes you’re spectators when you should be a participant, and you watch what happens. We gave up those offensive rebounds through the course of the whole game and it just killed us.”

Robinson led Nevada in scoring with 20 points along with six rebounds. Moore added a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing 13 rebounds along with 12 points from guard Johnna Ward.

The Wolf Pack will now play No. 2 Louisiana Tech Friday afternoon at 2:30 with a chance to return to the WAC championship game.

Damian Tromerhauser can be reached at sports@nevadasagebrush.com.

Quickie Stats:

Nevada:

G Tahnee Robinson: 20 points, six rebounds. 8-for-8 on free throw attempts.

F Shavon Moore: 14 points, 13 rebounds.

G Johnna Ward: 12 points.

Boise State:

G Tasha Harris: 19 points, five rebounds.

G Jessica Van Hoogen: 13 points.

F Lauren Lenhardt: 10 points, six rebounds.

Keys to the game: