Flight scare brought Lady Rebels together

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001 | 10:55 a.m.

When Regina Miller's UNLV Lady Rebels basketball team landed at Denver International Airport late this morning, it was only natural that some of her players were thinking of the tragic plane crash involving Oklahoma State's basketball team.

After all, it was only one month ago -- Jan. 27 to be exact -- that 10 people, including two Cowboy basketball players, died in a plane crash just 40 miles east of Denver.

And for a few very tense moments a couple of weeks ago on their flight back from Salt Lake City, Miller's Lady Rebels thought they might be involved in the next air tragedy involving a college sports team.

The plane carrying Miller's squad to Las Vegas was struck by lightning about 20 minutes from McCarran International Airport.

"I could feel the heat come right in," Miller said. "I thought the engine had exploded."

Senior forward Brooke Ingalls was seated in front of Miller talking with junior forward Linda Frohlich when the plane was jolted.

"The whole side of the plane just lit up," Ingalls said. "(The plane) kind of dropped a little bit and then came back up. The lights started to flicker. Everyone's face got pale. We just kind of looked at each other wide-eyed. Linda and I were on the verge of tears.

"It was really emotional, especially coming right after the Oklahoma State crash. When we finally landed and de-planed, Coach Miller pulled us all aside and told us that our lives had been spared. She spoke from her heart. There were a lot of tears. It was amazing."

Added Miller: "We felt very blessed that something worse didn't happen. It gave me a chance afterward to visit with the team and show that I'm human, too, because I'm always so intense all the time on the basketball court. But I just felt we needed to communicate our emotions about the incident."

Although Miller and her players say the Lady Rebels were a close-knit group to begin with, the scary flight home from Utah brought the squad even closer together.

Going into this weekend's conference-ending Front Range trip to Wyoming and Colorado State, the Lady Rebels (17-7, 6-5) have won three straight home games and still have a legitimate shot at finishing second behind Utah.

"It was a wake-up call," Ingalls said.

A sweep of the Front Range schools is not out of the question for the Lady Rebels even though they lost earlier to Colorado State, 69-62, at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"We were in a similar situation last year and we went back there and won both of our games," senior point guard Dayna Gambil said. "It won't be easy, but it can be done."

And if the Lady Rebels can return home with a Thursday night win at Wyoming (10-15, 2-10), which will be without leading scorer Ann McColl (broken jaw), and a Saturday afternoon victory over Colorado State (19-6, 8-4), UNLV will be seeded no lower than third for next week's Mountain West tournament here.

"Our goal is to focus and play as consistent as we can down the stretch and build confidence and momentum for the tournament," Miller said. "These next two games will determine a lot as far as seeding goes for the tournament. We'd like to end up on the opposite side of the bracket as Utah."

If the Rebels can make it into the MWC tourney final against the Utes, it would give them a legitimate shot at an NCAA Tournament at-large berth. At worse, it would likely garner them an NIT invitation.

So there's still a lot on the line the next two weeks for Miller's team.

But whatever happens, the Lady Rebels will be glad to be able to talk about surviving the frightening flight from Utah.

"After that trip, we realized how lucky we were and that tomorrow is not promised," Frohlich said. "You just have to live each day like it's your last because it just might be."