Victoria Davis, guard, and Kennedy Lee, forward, led Nevada to a 78-51 home win against the Colorado State Rams on Jan. 23. Davis led the team with 21 points, and Lee produced a 12 point, 17 rebound double-double. The Wolf Pack held the Rams to a season low in points.
Both women excelled during the half of play. In the first quarter, Lee scored five points off of a layup and a three-point shot while grabbing four rebounds, and Davis got to work scoring six points from two, three-point shots. All the while, teammates such as Audrey Roden and Kaylee Borden, Nevada guards, and Lexie Givens and Claire Jacobs, Nevada forwards, helped the duo score 19 points in the first 10 minutes of play.
After a quick intermission before the second quarter, Davis took the game by storm; scoring 13 points on 5-6 shooting — 2-3 from deep. Excluding Davis, Nevada shot 3-13, or about 23.1 percent, in the quarter. Lee went quiet during the quarter in terms of shooting, but secured four more rebounds while Davis went off.
On the other side of the ball, Nevada’s defense was clamping up the Rams. The visitors were not able to score for the first two minutes and 21 seconds of the game, gaining their first bucket from Kendyll Kinzer, Nevada forward, after a timeout. Nevada held Colorado State to eight points in the first quarter, marking the third time the Rams have been this low point-wise in a quarter this season.
Colorado State got back to their regular ways in the second quarter thanks to McKenna Hofschild, guard. Hofschild made all five of her attempted shots in the quarter, scoring 10 points in the process. However, her teammates scored a combined eight points while Davis and the Pack exploded both offensively and defensively. Heading into the second half, Nevada led 38-23.
Lee’s second half performance practically mirrored her first. In the third quarter, Lee secured three more rebounds for the Pack while putting up four points from a jump shot and layup. Then, within the final 10 minutes, Lee’s performance on the boards shined. She grabbed six boards while securing her double-double, with three made free throws to finish the game.
Unlike Lee, Davis had a very quiet second half — only scoring two points in the half from two free throws made within the last 12 seconds of the game. Although, Davis still helped her team secure the W in other ways: she grabbed two rebounds and three assists, which got the team eight points in the half.
All the while, Nevada’s defense continued to hold the Rams’ offensive attempts at bay. The Wolf Pack held their opponents to 8-24 shooting, or 33.3 percent, from the field. The only player for the visitors that consistently made their shots was Hofschild once again, who scored 12 of the team’s 29 points in the half.
After Sanna Strom, Colorado State guard, made a three-pointer with four minutes, 58 seconds left in the game, Nevada would go on an 11-0 run to win the game 78-51.
“We just really tried to make everything hard for their team,” Amanda Levens, Nevada Women’s Basketball head coach, said in a press conference after the game. “I think our start was fantastic, it got us out of the gates. [Colorado State] made a couple runs and shots, as we knew they would. But our response every time was really positive, and we just kept being aggressive.”
The Wolf Pack women’s defensive performance was the highlight of the game. The Jan. 22 game marked a season low in points scored for Colorado State.
“I think the biggest key was just don’t let up, hold fast,” Davis said in a press conference after the game. “We have this thing called ‘Stepping on neck’. So, we kept our foot on the gas and didn’t let up.”
With its fourth consecutive win in a row, the Nevada women’s basketball team moved to 11-9 overall and 5-2 in conference play.
“I think we’re finally buying into each other, into what the expectations of our coaches are,” Lee said. “The returners, we keep our season last year in the forefront. And we know we don’t want a repeat of that season. So that kind of pushes us too.”
The Wolf Pack women now look to Jan. 27, where the team will take on Mountain West conference leader and in-state rival UNLV on the road.
Derek Raridon can be reached via email derekraridon@nevada.unr.edu or via Twitter @TheBigCountry14
