Courtesy of Braidon Nourse

LAS VEGAS – Amarachi Kimpson can bury a team in a variety of ways, but as she put it after No. 1 UNLV’s comeback win over No. 8 Boise State, “I guess it was points today.”

To the tune of a career-high 29 points, she led the Lady Rebels to their fourth straight semifinal appearance in the Credit Union 1 Mountain West Basketball Championship, which they won 80-70. Kimpson became the second player in conference tournament history to record at least 29 points on 65 percent shooting or better.

But not without a true test against a talented Broncos team.

UNLV coach Lindy La Rocque wondered early on if Boise State would ever miss a shot, and with good reason. In the first quarter alone, the Broncos put up 25 points on 68 percent shooting. Based on the energy in the first frame, you wouldn’t have guessed they were the team on the court to play the day before.

La Rocque said frankly that her team seemed “lethargic,” but Kimpson was quietly orchestrating a masterpiece. She had eight in the first quarter and 17 in the first half — accounting for half her team’s points.

In the second half, the team woke up around her.

“I wasn’t going to let myself sleep tonight if I didn’t try to change (the energy),” La Rocque said. “They feed off me and my energy and what I’m giving them. Sometimes that means ripping them a new one a little bit and letting them feel that. And then also by infusing confidence in them.”

She certainly did the latter before and during the fourth quarter. Kiara Jackson, who had shot 2-for-18 through three quarters, hit some big midrange pullups as UNLV inched closer to completing its nine-point comeback and scored six of her 13 in the final frame.

McKinna Brackens finally scored a layup with 30 seconds left to put the game out of reach. After missing all six of her other shots on the day, La Rocque showered her with praise on the ensuing timeout.

In the final stretch, the game’s biggest sway was on the defensive end for UNLV. Despite the hot start and lights-out shooting from Tatum Thompson and Dani Bayes, Boise State was held without a field goal in the final four minutes. The game was tied when Abby Muse hit her team’s last shot.

“Honestly, it was our toughness. That was a big word today,” Kimpson said. “(La Rocque) really got into us in the third and fourth quarter, and it really gave us the fire to come back and gain the lead.”

“I think our mindset was to keep responding,” said Lady Rebels forward Alyssa Brown, who added eight points and 10 rebounds. “They were going to hit shots, they were hot early and we knew that. If they were going to score, we knew we had to come down, take care of the ball, get a shot or something we were really looking for.”

UNLV will continue its search for a fourth straight conference tournament title on Tuesday and will face the winner of No. 4 San Diego State and No. 5 New Mexico.

–mw–