Lady Rebels hang on against Denver

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | 11:30 a.m.

Perhaps the Lady Rebels still were smarting from their 36-point loss last Saturday to sixth-ranked Colorado State.

Or maybe they thought they were doing their fans a favor by keeping the score close and the outcome in doubt until the final minute of the game.

Whatever the reason, UNLV turned a potential blowout of the University of Denver into a nail-biter before escaping with a 72-63 non-conference victory Wednesday night at Lied Gymnasium.

"We thought we would make it interesting," an exasperated Regina Miller said after watching her Lady Rebels squander an 18-point lead early in the second half.

UNLV led 46-28 with 15:03 remaining in the game, only to let Denver (9-13) cut that lead in half over the next eight minutes and close to within three points, 59-56, with three minutes to play.

"I don't think Denver played particularly well in the first half and I thought we were able to shut down their offense," Miller said. "They were much more aggressive in the second half ... and I thought we let up at the end of the first half and that let (Denver) build some confidence going into the second half.

"We got a big lead and, mentally, we let down."

The victory was UNLV's 12th in 19 games -- equaling the Lady Rebels' win total for the past three seasons, when UNLV was a combined 12-67.

Senior guard Kristen Pool led the Lady Rebels with 16 points and 10 assists as all five UNLV starters scored in double figures. Liz Wolfe had 15 points and seven rebounds; Linda Froehlich recovered from a slow start and had 14 points, nine assists and eight rebounds; Angie Dye added 13 points and eight rebounds; and Erin Johansson had 12 points.

Froehlich, averaging 23.3 points a game going into the contest, was held to two points on 1-for-6 shooting in the first half. Wolfe and Dye picked up the slack, scoring 13 and eight points, respectively, to help UNLV to a 35-21 halftime lead.

Sophomore center Michaela Pavlickova paced the Pioneers with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lady Rebels resume Western Athletic Conference play Saturday night when they host Air Force at 7:35 at Lied Gymnasium.