LAS VEGAS — The three-time defending Mountain West champions weren’t going to go away without a fight.

But Colorado State delivered the knockout blow.

Brooke Carlson calmly nailed 7 of 8 free throws during a 25-point fourth quarter and the third-seeded Rams punched their ticket to the conference championship game with a 66-59 victory over UNLV, the No. 2 seed, late Monday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“That was a really, really tough effort,” Colorado State coach Ryun Williams said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a basketball team than I am of my group right now.”

After the Lady Rebels’ run of dominance, there will be a new champion in the Mountain West and it will come from the Centennial State.

No. 9 Air Force had advanced hours earlier on the same floor with a 68-66 victory over No. 5 Boise State.

Carlson led Colorado State with 19 points and Marta Leimane added 16 off the bench as the Rams, who lost Lexus Bargesser to an injury in the first half, largely dominated the Rebels in a way few teams have in recent years.

The status of Bargesser, the Mountain West Newcomer of the Year, was unknown for Tuesday’s championship game.

When Bargesser left, the Rams huddled and reminded each other that there are few creatures more dangerous than a wounded bear.

Fittingly, Leimane’s nickname is the Latvian Bear.

“My mentality was I have a role to fill, her role, and just lift my teammates up,” Leimane said. “We don’t have a lot of these left, and I’m thankful that we got one more.”

The Rams’ dominance was met with a final flurry. After CSU stretched its lead to 13 points with 5:01 remaining, the Rebels embarked on a 15-6 run to pull within 3 with 29 seconds remaining.

Carlson’s 5 free throws marked the end of the night’s scoring and secured the chance for the Rams (26-7) to close their time in the Mountain West with a third tournament victory (the last coming in 2016).

“Those are the type of situations I like to be in just with that pressure,” said Carlson, whose brother Blake was at the game, and Blake’s biggest pet peeve is missed free throws.

Aaliyah Alexander led the way with 22 points for UNLV (21-11), which has gone 81-11 in regular-season Mountain West action over the past five seasons.

With regular-season champion San Diego State having been dispatched by Air Force in the quarterfinals and now UNLV, the hometown team that has dominated this event, also out, somebody will return to Colorado as a champion after Tuesday’s 7:30 p.m. championship tilt.

“I love it. Yeah, I think it brings a lot of energy to the state also just figuring out who is going to get it done, who is going to come out on top,” Carlson said. “So it’s going to be really fun.”