Nevada Women’s Basketball broke an attendance record at home and enters the new week at .500 after two losses to ranked teams and a win to close out the team’s road games. The team has collectively made 548 points, scoring 68.5 per game, with an average field goal percentage of 40.5.

Nevada V.S. UConn

Tuesday, Nov. 28, was gut check time for the Nevada Wolf Pack as the No. 1 ranked UConn Huskies stormed into Lawlor Events Center with a purpose. The Huskies put together a strong shooting performance against Nevada, defeating the Pack 88-57.

The first quarter featured no feeling out process for the teams as UConn held no prisoners, going on a 25-5 put together almost single-handedly by Huskies guard Kia Nurse. The Pack was able to put another seven points on the board before the quarter was over, putting the score at 31-12.

The first quarter shellacking continued into the second, as Nevada couldn’t put together any runs. Nevada was only able to put up an additional 14 points in the second quarter totaling the halftime score at 53-26.

After Nevada’s dismal shooting display in the first, the Wolf Pack came back with a much stronger second half performance only being outscored by four points. Although Nevada improved its shooting immensely, UConn still defeated the Pack 88-57. UConn’s Kia Nurse shot lights out the entire game, going 9 for 10 for 27 points. Nevada’s star player was Teige Zeller who put up 17 points on seven shots and three free throws. After this game, Nevada sat at 3-3 overall in record.

Maui Classic

Nevada V.S. Oregon State

Just three days later Nevada found its way to Maui, Hawaii, to compete in the Maui Classic. The Pack’s first game came against the No. 21 ranked Oregon State Beavers. The Pack struggled again against a top-tier opponent losing their first game of the tournament by 40 points.

The first half was an uphill battle on all accounts for the Wolf Pack as the Beavers doubled Nevada’s score in both quarters. Nevada shot 8 of 30 from the field racking up an underwhelming 26.67 shooting percentage. T Moe couldn’t get anything to fall going zero for four in the first half, followed by an uncharacteristic half from the field by Zeller going 5 for 15.

The second half saw Zeller take better shots as she made 50 percent of what she put up and T Moe improved her shooting percentage tenfold, only missing one shot during this half. Although this was the case, Nevada was still outscored 26-41 in the half. One bright side for Nevada is that the team has an innate ability to cash in on turnovers, as the team got 13 of its points on turnovers alone. To optimize this Nevada needs to limit the number of turnovers they give away. Following this game, Nevada dropped below .500 on the season with a record of 3-4. This marked Nevada’s second loss to a ranked team.

Nevada V.S. Montana State

With the Pack’s eventful week quickly coming to a close, Nevada still had yet to get a win. The Maui Classic was closing out against a 5-2 Montana State team, but the record didn’t make Nevada shy away from its competition. The Pack defeated Montana State 67-53 to put one win in the column after a rough week on the hardwood.

The Wolf Pack tends to play worse in the first half, and as the second half rolls around the team catches its footing and storms out to finish off strong. For some reason, this was the exact opposite this game. Nevada’s first half featured some role players step into the limelight to put on a show. Terae Briggs went four for five shooting along with making all six of her free throws. In addition to Briggs, Jade Redmon came to play making 75 percent of her shots in the first. Nevada still had a hefty nine turnovers but forced Montana State to give the ball up 11 times. The first ended with Nevada up by 18.

Nevada shot a lackluster 30.4 percent from the field in the second half, only making seven of its 23 shots put up. This was in comparison to Montana State’s 48.4 percent from the field, making 15 of 31. But somehow Nevada was only outscored 39-35 in the half. The Wolf Pack made it a point to get to the line for some freebies. Nevada didn’t waste many opportunities at the line this half as the team went 19 for 24, to help Nevada defeat Montana State 67-53.

The Wolf Pack has a seven-day breather until the team travels to Seattle, WA, to take on the 4-4 Seattle University Red Hawks. Let’s see what team ends up atop the Space Needle come Dec. 9.