Columnist Dean Juipe: Lady Rebels still have a ways to go

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Dec. 29, 1999 | 10:14 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

It was a test of sorts and a chance to see how reliant the UNLV Lady Rebels have become on mainstay Linda Frohlich.

The answer: Very.

With not only Frohlich but fellow starters Erin Johansson and Brooke Ingalls out of the lineup, a game that still looked manageable on paper turned into an adventure Tuesday evening at the Thomas & Mack Center. While the Lady Rebels were able to hang on for a 63-58 victory over lowly Cal State Fullerton, it certainly wasn't impressive and the people who follow the team on a regular basis were dismayed at what they perceived were shortcomings in effort and solid play.

It was an odd game in many respects and one that shouldn't be weighted with any definitive evaluations. UNLV was painfully short-handed and Fullerton is painfully inept.

The result was a close if erratic contest that underscored just how dependent the Lady Rebels are on Fraulein Frohlich.

She's a wonderful player, of course, and the centerpiece of a program that is trying desperately to regain its lost luster. Only a sophomore, Frohlich has the highest scoring (23.3) and rebounding (11.6) averages of any player in the Mountain West Conference, although the league season remains two weeks away.

She was sitting out the Fullerton game as a UNLV-imposed penalty for accepting an "extra benefit" during the offseason. In all, four players and an assistant coach received mini suspensions and Frohlich served hers against the weakest team the Lady Rebels are apt to play.

Likewise, Johansson was sitting out for the same offense, while Ingalls appears to be out for the season after breaking a foot two weeks ago.

Absent three-fifths of its regular lineup, UNLV barely resembled the team head coach Regina Miller hopes can mature into a respectable outfit within the next few weeks.

For a number of reasons, Miller needs this team to achieve at least a modicum of success. Foremost: Reviving the flagging interest in the community for a program that once routinely produced 20-win teams and NCAA Tournament invitations.

Miller surprised many of us in her debut season a year ago, molding a seven-senior team into a unit that went 17-11. After three consecutive four-win seasons, the turnaround was fairly abrupt and in terms of wins and losses the Lady Rebels were the most improved team in the country.

But now the challenge is just as great and it's to continue the rebuilding process and glide the program toward a second heyday.

By Frohlich's mere presence, the goal isn't out of reach. It's also just as crucial that Miller prove she didn't luck into nabbing an All-American from Germany, and that she can acquire and coach better-than-average players.

It's hard to say just what the Lady Rebels have beyond Frohlich and fellow scorer Kinesha Davis. Given the opportunity for extra minutes with three starters out for the game with Fullerton, six players exceeded their scoring averages yet only Constance Jinks (and perhaps Talisha Mitchell) truly impressed.

Improving to 6-4 was a plus for UNLV but remember that CSF is 0-8, had been losing by an average of 27 points and hasn't had a winning season since 1991.

Let's just say the Lady Rebels still have some work to do.