LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Lady Rebels have been picked for the top spot for the Mountain West for the 2024-25 campaign— this is the league's predicted order of finish and preseason awards released Wednesday morning.
UNLV is looking to defend its title for the fourth consecutive season— marking the third straight season the Lady Rebels have been picked top spot in the preseason poll.
Media members and coaches voted for the number one spot with 21 of 30 first-place votes and a total of 298 points.
Individually, the Lady Rebels received three accolades with senior forward Alyssa Brown, senior guard Kiara Jackson and sophomore guard Amarachi Kimpson. They were all selected to the Preseason All-MW Team.
Brown was named the 2024 MW Basketball Championship MVP. She played in 31 games with 28 starts last season averaging 6.5 points per game through 24.2 minutes per game.
She ranked tied for third in the conference in rebounds with 255. Additionally in the MW, she ranked 10th in blocked shots with 26 and 14th in assists with 70.
Jackson was the nation and conference leader for assist/turnover ratio at 3.49. She earned her first All-MW honors last season. Jackson played and started all 33 of the Lady Rebels’ games in 2023-24 and averaged 31.3 minutes per game— which led UNLV and ranked 10th in the MW.
Kimpson was last season’s MW Sixth Player and Freshman of the Year, which marked the first time in program and conference history that a player has earned those two awards in the same season.
She was also named All-MW honorable mention, MW All-Freshman team and the MW Basketball Championship All-Tournament.
Wyoming was voted second (2) in the preseason poll then came Colorado State at third (3), Boise State at fourth (4) and San Diego State at fifth (5).
The Lady Rebels begin the 2024-25 campaign on Tuesday, Oct. 29 hosting Point Loma in an exhibition contest at Cox Pavilion at 6:30 p.m. The regular season starts on Monday, Nov. 4 at home versus LMU.
