Despite makeshift lineup, Lady Rebels nip Cal State Fullerton

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Dec. 29, 1999 | 10:15 a.m.

The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team breezed into town looking for its first victory of the season Tuesday night.

Without three of her regular starting players in the lineup, UNLV coach Regina Miller was determined not to let that happen.

Miller used a brand new starting lineup including three freshman and urged her team to a 63-58 victory at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Kinesha Davis led UNLV (6-4) with 16 points while Dayna Gambill and Constance Jinks each had 14. Erin Whiteside led the Titans (0-8) with 20 points.

"I told my team before the game that either their confidence is really low or it's sky-high because they haven't won yet," Miller said. "In a way, they were a dangerous team to play."

But the Titans never threatened the Lady Rebels until midway through the second half.

A 20-8 run by the Titans erased UNLV's 14-point lead with 2:38 left in the game.

Fullerton's Megan Baskins scored her only basket of the game, a timely 3-pointer to cap the run and pull the Titans within two points at 58-56.

Down the stretch, the Rebels made 5-of-7 free throws.

"I think when you have a young team, they are going to experience a sort of lull at times," Miller said of the team's shrinking lead. "These are players who have only played together a few days during practice.

"With the youth and inexperience of the team, we did a great job of hanging on for the victory.

"We want to continue to put ourselves in a position to win the game by making our free throws at the end."

UNLV's defense forced the Titans to commit 26 turnovers.

Linda Frohlich, the team's leading scorer, and Erin Johansson sat out the game because of a self-imposed team suspension and Brooke Ingalls has been on the bench because of an ankle injury. Davis scored nine of her points in the first half to help the Lady Rebels to a 31-20 lead.