After closing out the Thanksgiving Classic with a win, the UNLV Lady Rebels (6-2) face the Baylor Bears (8-2) on the road. This will be their first road test of the season.
The Lady Rebels are coming off a strong showing during their Thanksgiving Classic last week with back-to-back wins against the East Carolina Pirates and the UCF Knights.
Sophomore forward McKinna Brackens came up big in both games by scoring 19 points against UCF and 17 points against ECU, respectively. Brackens also came up big on rebounding for the Lady Rebels with 14 against UCF. Against the Pirates, she went 7-for-10 from the field and grabbed 3 rebounds. It was a team effort to pull off the wins with guard Amarachi Kimpson also contributing on offense against ECU, scoring 13 points and four steals.
To be successful against the Bears, the Lady Rebels need to minimize their turnovers. Against ECU, they had a game-high of 21 turnovers.
The Lady Rebels are capable of using that same smothering defense they used against ECU against Baylor to force turnovers.
This will be a test for the Lady Rebels. They will need a team effort against the Baylor. The Lady Rebels need to make a concerted effort to gain the upper hand in in this contest to keep the momentum.
The Bears will rely on their leading scorer junior guard/forward Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, who is averaging 14.8 points per game, and guard Sarah Andrews. In their 101-29 victory against Texas Southern, Andrews led the team with 22 points and 6 rebounds. She also went 9-for-14 from the floor and 4-of-7 from the three-point line.
The Lady Rebels square off against Baylor at 12 p.m. PST in Waco, Texas on Sunday, December 8th.
