No. 23 UNLV women grab MWC crown beating San Jose St.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Alyssa Brown scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Desi-Rae Young had a double-double and No. 23 UNLV clinched its second straight Mountain West Conference regular-season championship, beating San Jose State 77-60 on Thursday night.

Brown made all eight of her shot attempts, while Young scored 16 points and had 10 rebounds, Alyssa Durazo-Frescas added 14 points, Justice Ethridge scored 10 and Essence Booker distributed 12 assists for the Lady Rebels.

Nailea Nicholas scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and reserve Amhyia Moreland scored 10 for San Jose State.

UNLV moved its home winning streak to 18 games — the third-longest active streak Division I women’s basketball. UNLV’s 16-game overall win streak is second only to No. 1 South Carolina’s 39 consecutive wins.

Showing up in the Top 25 for the first time since 1994, the Lady Rebels (25-2, 15-0) outscored San Jose State 19-4 in the second quarter and were never threatened thereafter.

Nicholas’ basket reduced the Spartan’s deficit to 22-18 with 6:52 left before halftime. But after a two-and-a-half minute scoring drought by both squads, UNLV erupted on a 15-0 run with Brown scoring eight points on four layups and Young scoring five.

San Jose State (3-22, 1-13) will attempt to end its six-game losing streak when it faces New Mexico on the road Saturday. UNLV has some time off before hosting Utah State on Feb. 23.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25