Lady Rebels lose again

Friday, Jan. 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Toby Girard and Taneisha Gossett did what was asked of them but it still wasn't enough to allow the UNLV Lady Rebels to pull of their first Western Athletic Conference win.

Girard scored a career-high 22 points and Gossett held Fresno State's leading scorer to only eight points but the Bulldogs outplayed UNLV in the final four minutes of the game and escaped with a 74-68 WAC victory Thursday night at South Gym.

The loss was the ninth straight for the Lady Rebels, who fell to 0-5 in the conference and 2-14 overall. Fresno State improved to 2-2 in the WAC and 9-5 overall.

"You look at the stats, you look at the teams and there's no doubt we should have won that game," said Lady Rebels head coach LaDonna McClain. "We have no excuse."

The Lady Rebels, who led for much of the first half, held a 63-62 lead with 4:45 to play. From that point on, however, the Bulldogs overcame their height disadvantage and beat UNLV to numerous offensive rebounds that resulted in second-chance baskets.

"They got a lot of the important shots -- they certainly got a lot of shots there in the last five minutes of the game that they shouldn't have. With a team with the size that we have and the potential that we have, that should never happen.

"I think we played, down the line, very poorly and I'll take the blame for that. There has got to be some things that we do more consistently and every night we've got to step out ready to go."

UNLV trailed by only three points with one minute remaining, but missed a pair of three-point attempts on consecutive trips down the court. Fresno State hit four of its final five free-throw attempts in the final 29 seconds to secure the win.

Girard, who scored 15 points last week at San Diego State, hit 10 of 22 shots from the floor and sparked the Lady Rebels in the second half by scoring 16 of her 22 points in the final 20 minutes.

"I've been moved to the two guard from the point, mainly for me to score," Girard said. "Coach just wants me to shoot the ball and score. I've been practicing constantly and tonight it paid off, but not enough."

Despite a nine-game losing streak and a loss against a team the Lady Rebels had expected to beat, Girard said that team morale remains high.

"The attitude is great, we just need some confidence and we need a win to get confident," Girard said. "Once we win, I think we'll be OK. We had our hearts set on (winning) this game ... it just didn't happen."

Gossett was the only other Lady Rebel to score in double figures, with 10 points and had a team-leading nine rebounds. More importantly, McClain said, she held Fresno State's Janee Young to half her 16 points-per-game average.

"Taneisha played a hell of a game," McClain said. "She stepped in and had 10 points, nine boards and she held their (leading) scorer to eight points and that's what we asked her to do.

"Of everybody out there, she probably had the toughest assignment because Janee Young is a heck of a player."

Fresno State's Lori Brown picked up the slack for the Bulldogs and led all players with 24 points. Connie Krueger added 15 points and Zanete Law had 10.

The Lady Rebels resume conference play Saturday at 7 p.m. when they host San Jose State at South Gym.