UNLV Lady Rebels guard Amarachi Kimpson, left, is congratulated by teammate Ashley Scoggin after making a basket and drawing a foul in the second half of an NCAA women’s semifinal game against the Colorado State Rams during the Mountain West Championships at the Thomas & Mack Center Thursday, March 12, 2024.
Tuesday, March 12, 2024 | 7:35 p.m.
Amarachi Kimpson wasn’t around for UNLV’s previous two Mountain West championship runs, but the freshman is catching on quick.
The No. 21 UNLV women’s basketball team is one more win away from a three-peat after knocking off Colorado State, 62-52, to advance to the MWC tournament title game, and Kimpson made it happen by delivering big buckets down the stretch.
UNLV will try to win its third straight league crown Wednesday, when Lindy La Rocque’s squad squares off against the winner of tonight’s San Diego State-Boise State semifinal.
Unlike Monday’s 48-point blowout of Fresno State, advancing wasn’t assured late into the fourth quarter, as Colorado State scrapped and stayed within one or two possessions for most of the final period. Then La Rocque chose to trust Kimpson, the MWC Freshman of the Year, to make the deciding plays, and she came through.
After Colorado State’s Marta Leimane scored to bring the Rams within 41-39 with eight minutes remaining — as close as CSU had been since the first minute of the game — Kimpson isolated at the top of the key, drove into the lane and hit a short bank shot to make it 43-39.
UNLV was nursing a 50-45 lead with less than four minutes to play when Kimpson came up with a steal, dribbled coast to coast and finished in traffic. The next time down the court, Kimpson drove into the paint and scored while drawing a foul (she made the free throw to complete the 3-point play).
After a Colorado State 3-pointer, La Rocque called the freshman’s number again; Kimpson sized up Rams guard McKenna Hofschild, took her off the dribble and went behind the back to draw another shooting foul. Kimpson made both free throws to give UNLV a 57-48 lead with 1:21 on the clock.
That pretty much put a bow on things, and junior guard Kiara Jackson went 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute to protect the lead.
On a night when offense didn’t come easy for the Scarlet and Gray — they shot 33.3% as a team, and Mountain West Player of the Year Desi-Rae Young scored only six points — La Rocque decided to keep things simple on the game’s biggest possessions. That meant giving the ball to Kimpson and getting out of the way.
“She’s a really tough player to stop 1-on-1,” La Rocque said. “We wanted to use more clock and I don’t want to make a ton of passes and risk them jumping a lane or something silly, so I’m just like, have her stand out there and go try to get a basket.”
Kimpson finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting in 29 minutes off the bench. Jackson tallied 12 points and five assists.
Kimpson credited La Rocque for preparing her for big moments.
“It’s great that coach puts a lot of confidence in me to make those plays,” Kimpson said.
UNLV has now won 13 consecutive games. ESPN’s bracketology projection has the Scarlet and Gray as a No. 9 seed in next week’s NCAA Tournament, so they should be safely in the field whether or not they complete their three-peat on Wednesday.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.
