Lady Rebels struggle against New Zealand

Thursday, Nov. 11, 1999 | 3:29 a.m.

One look at the New Zealand National Team roster was all it took to figure out the UNLV women's basketball team would be in for a long night.

UNLV, with eight underclassmen and only one senior on its roster, suffered a 74-60 exhibition loss Wednesday night to a New Zealand touring team whose players averaged 24.4 years of age.

"We just have no experience and they used their age and experience to beat us," UNLV head coach Regina Miller said. "Sometimes, a lack of experience can result in what looks like a lack of intensity ... and we never got into the flow of the game."

New Zealand jumped out to a 20-8 lead before the Lady Rebels got into the game with the help of a pair of three-point baskets by sophomore Erin Johansson.

The Lady Rebels trailed by six at the half, 38-32, and managed to take a one-point lead early in the second half before New Zealand finally wore down their hosts.

Trailing by only three points with 4:46 remaining, the Lady Rebels were outscored 17-6 the rest of the way as New Zealand turned the game into a rout.

"We had some pretty tired players there at the end," Miller said. "It wasn't a pretty game and we were not able to play the way we're capable of playing."

UNLV sophomore Linda Frohlich played all but one minute of the contest and led the Lady Rebels with 19 points and 11 rebounds and Johansson finished with 17 points -- 15 coming on three-pointers.

"Playing Linda Frohlich all 40 minutes is not what I want to do," Miller said. "Every time she got the ball, she was double- and triple-teamed and she was getting banged up pretty good."

Freshman guard Constance Jinks provided a spark for the Lady Rebels' offense with 12 points.

UNLV, which split its two exhibition games, will open the regular season Monday night when it faces No. 14 UC Santa Barbara in the opening round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament at Santa Barbara.

"Santa Barbara is going to be quite challenging for us," Miller said. "We're going through some growing pains right now with all the new people we've got, but I think we learned some things tonight and I'm sure we'll learn some things against Santa Barbara."

Gina Falmer led coach Carl Dickel's national team with 27 points and three other New Zealand players reached double figures in scoring.