Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
LaDonna McClain has landed a pair of high school recruits but, unfortunately for the Lady Rebels head coach, they won't be eligible to suit up until next fall.
McClain announced Wednesday that 6-foot guard Tina Garcia from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., and 6-foot forward Brooke Ingalls from Eastlake High School in Redmond, Wash., had signed letters of intent to play for UNLV next fall.
"We try to recruit kids who play a lot of positions and both of these kids fit that role well," McClain said of the first two high school recruits she has signed since taking the UNLV coaching job in March.
McClain no doubt would welcome Garcia and Ingalls today, if that were possible. As a result of illness and other factors, the UNLV women's basketball team will be severely shorthanded when it travels to Oregon Friday night to take on the unbeaten Ducks (2-0).
The Lady Rebels (1-3) will be without starters Loriessa Randle (family illness) and Angie Dye (illness) and reserves Amy Wunderlich and Nakia Jones for Friday's nonconference game. McClain said that only seven players will make the trip to the Pacific Northwest.
"We've got to make some changes and this is a good time for (the reserves) to step up and give us some quality minutes," McClain said. "We're going to see some kids step in and do some things and hopefully show us what they're capable of doing.
"It's going to be a long road trip but at the same time, those kids can compete with Oregon. We just have to play the hand that's dealt us and right now, that's it."
Fortunately for McClain, she will have the services of her two leading scorers -- Celeste Taylor and Toby Girard -- for the Oregon game. Taylor leads UNLV in scoring (13.8 points per game) and rebounding (11.3 per game) while Girard is averaging 11.3 points a contest.
Despite their 1-3 start and three-game losing streak the Lady Rebels have not been a complete disappointment to McClain, who is in her first season at UNLV.
"We have a lot of bright spots right now," McClain said, "but we're asking five or six kids to step up and night in and night out give us quality minutes. The thing we have to improve is to get more quality minutes off the bench from some of the people, to get them to contribute a little more than they are. When we do that, we're going to be a very competitive team.
"The three losses we have, it was still a game at the six-minute mark in each game. A couple breakdowns here and there in each game and we let it get away and had to fight back. We're not a team, right now, that is in a position to do that."
After opening the season with a 61-58 win against Sam Houston State in the UNLV Desert Classic, the Lady Rebels have lost to Arkansas State (78-66), Virginia Commonwealth (68-54) and Massachusetts (59-48). The Lady Rebels have averaged 22 turnovers a game in their first four contests, something that bothers McClain.
"We have a lot of work to do and, fundamentally. we're not as sound as I would like us to be," McClain said. "But it's really (too) early to say you're disappointed. We certainly have some talent to do some things we're capable of doing, it's just taken us longer to put it all together than I thought."
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