UNLV ready to settle in at home

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2001 | 9:54 a.m.

After disposing of the University of San Francisco, 71-63, on Saturday night, Regina Miller's UNLV Lady Rebels spent most of Sunday checking out the sights in the Bay Area before flying home.

But as nice as seeing the Golden Gate Bridge or Fisherman's Wharf might have been, the sight the Lady Rebels probably will enjoy seeing the most this week is that of their home floor at Cox Pavilion.

UNLV (7-1) opens a five-game homestand on Wednesday night when it hosts Eastern Washington (3-8). It will be the Lady Rebels' first home game in 24 days.

Since crushing Tennessee Tech, 88-67, in the championship game of the Lady Rebel Shootout on Nov. 25, UNLV has made road trips to Oakland, Reno and San Francisco. And, All-American forward Linda Frohlich, who had a season-high 30 points in the win at USF, broke Misty Thomas' school career scoring record.

"We're looking forward to finally being able to play at home again," Miller said. "We have five straight games at home which is nice. But we can't afford to relax just because we're back on our home floor now. We've got to stay focused and continue to improve our game as we get closer to conference play."

UNLV hosts Tennessee Martin on Friday night, UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 30, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Jan. 2 and Northern Arizona on Jan. 4. Then the Lady Rebels travel to Albuquerque for their Mountain West Conference opener against New Mexico on Jan. 6 in a game that will be televised by ESPN2.

"It's important we continue to work hard these next couple of weeks before heading to New Mexico," Miller said. "Our motto is, 'Respect all but fear none.' We've got to be ready to play. How we work and play these next couple of weeks will be a real key in getting us ready for conference play."