UNLV women Jinks Lobos

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, March 9, 2000 | 10:48 a.m.

The play is called, "Chicago." And what better person to run it than Constance Jinks?

After all, the 5-7 freshman guard hails from the south side of the Windy City. And she has the number -- 23 -- and enough Nike headbands and sweatbands to leave little doubt that her hero growing up was a fellow named Michael Jordan.

The athletic and acrobatic Jinks did a pretty fair MJ impersonation down the stretch of Wednesday night's first round Mountain West Conference tournament contest against New Mexico.

She used a quick crossover dribble to weave through the Lobo defense for the game-winning basket with just 6.4 seconds left to give UNLV a hard-fought 52-50 victory at the Thomas & Mack.

"I think that's why they call her the female Michael Jordan," Lady Rebels coach Regina Miller said of Jinks, who scored six of UNLV's final eight points. "She's a money player."

The Rebels (17-11), who will meet regular-season MWC champion Utah (21-7) in Friday's semifinals at 2:30 p.m., had to withstand a controversial ending to claim their sixth straight victory, the team's longest win streak since 1993-94.

Following Jinks' game-winning basket, New Mexico (18-10) shunned a timeout and quickly attacked downcourt. Lobo forward Miranda Sanchez was hacked on the arm by Jinks right at the buzzer near the top of the key. If the foul occurred before time had expired, Sanchez, a 75 percent free-throw shooter who had nailed a game-tying 3-pointer with 1:15 remaining, would have a chance to convert a one-and-one to send the game into overtime.

The referee who made the foul call, Tom Dubas, was not sure if the foul came before or after time expired. So the play was reviewed by the officiating crew three times on a television monitor before it was correctly ruled that Sanchez had been fouled after the scoreboard showed 0:00.

When lead official Anita Myles informed UNLV coach Regina Miller and New Mexico coach Don Flanagan of the decision after a two-minute delay, Miller let out a loud, "Yeah!" and pumped her fist in the air as the predominantly New Mexico crowd began booing.

"Yeah, I did hold my breath," Miller said. "Having the (TV) monitor here tonight was so huge. Thank goodness we had instant replay."

"You're happy about winning and then it's, 'whoops, maybe not,' " said UNLV forward Linda Frohlich, who had game highs in points (21) and rebounds (16). "Then we won. But I knew we had. I heard the horn (before the whistle). I knew once they looked at the monitor we'd be OK."

Still, despite the TV replay, Flanagan believed a mistake had been made.

"From what I heard at the end of the game was whistle, then horn," he said. "I'll stick by that. ... The officials never comment on my coaching and I won't comment on their performance."

UNLV swept all three of its games against the Lobos this season and will now take on a Utah squad that beat them by 30 points, 76-46, on Jan. 15 at the Thomas & Mack.

However, the Lady Rebels lost by just four points, 56-52, in the rematch on Feb. 12 in Salt Lake City.