Frohlich breaks record

Steve Guiremand

Monday, Dec. 10, 2001 | 9:57 a.m.

RENO -- Linda Frohlich knew she had broken the UNLV school career scoring record early in the first half of the Rebels' 83-50 victory over Nevada-Reno at the Lawlor Events Center. She just didn't remember how.

"Oh, was it a baseline drive," she said. "Good. That's my move."

For the record, the 6-foot-2 senior forward from Oldendorf, Germany, drove the right baseline and laid in a basket with 14:49 left in the first half to pass former All-American Misty Thomas (1982-86) for the top spot. Thomas had 1,892 points. Frohlich, who finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds on Sunday, now has 1,914.

"I don't (remember the play)," Frohlich said. "I'm going to watch it again. If it was a baseline drive, I'm really happy because that's my move. I really can't remember."

Frohlich, a natural right-hander, used her left hand to drive to the basket for the record-breaker.

When she first tried out for basketball as a 9-year-old with the TSV Lamstedt club team in Lamstedt, Germany, Frohlich had trouble doing even the fundamentals.

"I quit after a month," she said. "All the girls were laughing. It was like, 'You can't shoot the ball. You can't dribble.' There was a lot of teasing. At the age of 9, I just wasn't ready to stand up to that anymore."

So even though her mother, Vineta, had been a well-known European basketball star for Riga, Latvia and the Soviet National team, Frohlich turned her focus to ballet, jazz dance, tennis and track and field.

"Then at (the age of) 12 I was ready to go back," Frohlich said.

And she hasn't looked back since.

The girl from the tiny (population 6,000) German town of Oldendorf -- "There's probably as many cows as people there," Frohlich jokes -- has shattered the school career scoring mark at UNLV and figures to be playing in the WNBA next year, and possibly in the 2004 Olympics if Germany can qualify.

"I think (breaking the record) means she will leave her legacy behind here," UNLV coach Regina Miller said. "It's been tremendous for us and an integral part of our rebuilding process."

"Right now I'm just so happy this is over," Frohlich said. "Now the media can focus on the Lady Rebels again and not on Linda and the scoring record. ... It was the best scenario. We won by so much and we did it at Reno."

And what would Frohlich say to all those folks back home who used to tease her about her play?

"I truly believe they were a part of what I am today," she said. "Maybe if I had started playing at 9 I would have been tired of basketball at 12. They're a big part of what I am now. I wouldn't be mean to them. I wouldn't remind them of (what they said). One thing I learned from that is you should be humble because you never know how things can turn around in this game."