The UNLV Lady Rebels (5-2) finish off their homestand and tournament play against the East Carolina Pirates (3-3). This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
The Lady Rebels are coming off an impressive win against the UCF Knights (6-1), 71-52 where sophomore forward McKinna Brackens had a fabulous game, earning a double-double.
The East Carolina Pirates are led by junior forward, Amiya Joyner, who is averaging 16.6 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game. Joyner has help from sophomore guard Jayla Hearp who averages 13.0 points per game. In their loss against the Montana State Bobcats, Amiya Joyner and Jayla Hearp shined on offense, both scoring in the double digits. Guard/forward Morgan Moseley snatched up a season-high 7 rebounds. The Pirates’ downfall was turnovers. The Pirates turned the ball over 29 times, which, resulted in Montana State scoring 24 points off of those turnovers. East Carolina will need to focus on minimizing turnovers to topple the Lady Rebels.
The Lady Rebels need to continue to connect from the free-throw line, against UCF, they went 6-for-9. They also need to continue to be consistent from three-point land. Against UCF they sank 46.7% of their attempts.
Sophomore forward McKinna Brackens had a career game against UCF with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Let’s see if she can continue to dominate in the paint and from the three-point line. She went 3-for-3 against the Knights. The Lady Rebels will also look to guards Aaliyah Alexander and Amarachi Kimpson, who are averaging 10.9 and 13.0 points per game, respectively.
In the post-game interview, coach Lindy La Racque said, “Our post touches, execution, and taking advantage of opportunities is something I thought we cleaned up a lot. Still not perfect by any means but really proud of our effort. Overall, I’m really proud of the response and now we have to continue to move it forward.”
The Lady Rebels tip-off against East Carolina State on Friday, November 29th at 2:30 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center.
