BYU bounces Lady Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, March 8, 2001 | 10:38 a.m.

Wednesday's scores

BYU 62, UNLV 54

N. Mexico 55, San Diego St. 49

Colorado St. 70, Wyoming 55

Utah 53, Air Force 50

UNLV's motto after losing a hard-fought game to BYU, 62-54, in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference tournament on Wednesday night?

How about "Wait and See about the WNIT?"

The Lady Rebels (18-9), who still entertained hopes of a possible NCAA Tournament bid entering the MWC tourney at the Thomas & Mack Center, now will be forced to keep their fingers crossed and hope that they don't get snubbed by the Women's National Invitation Tournament for a third straight year.

UNLV had 17 wins in each of Regina Miller's first two seasons. Now it must hope that 18 wins and a third-place finish in a conference rated No. 7 in the RPI is enough to garner a postseason invitation.

"I'm just waiting for the phone call," Miller said when asked what she thought of her team's WNIT chances. "(Not getting invited) last year was disappointing. But I think we've done enough to this point to get a nod.

"I'll travel. We'll go on the road. I'd like to play here, but we'll travel if need be. We just want the chance to be able to continue to play in March."

And perhaps rid themselves of the bad taste of Wednesday night's loss to the Cougars (17-11).

BYU overcame a 30-24 halftime deficit by playing strong defense on UNLV's Linda Frohlich, the co-MWC Player of the Year, outrebounding the Rebels, 40-31, and outscoring UNLV 16-4 at the free throw line after intermission.

Frohlich, who had 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, was held without a point or a rebound for more than 13 minutes to start the second half. Still, the 6-3 junior forward from Oldendorf, Germany, finished with a game-high 20 points, seven rebounds and five steals.

The rest of the Lady Rebels struggled badly on offense, however, combining to hit just 12 of their 34 field goal tries.

Still, UNLV was tied, 45-45, with 6:56 to go thanks to a 3-pointer by Frohlich.

But BYU, which went into the bonus with 8:59 left in the game, outscored the Rebels 17-9 down the stretch with nine of the points coming via free throws.

"I was disappointed that we didn't get to the foul line more in the second half," Miller said. "They got to the foul line early. They shot 27 foul shots in the second half. Maybe we needed to match their aggression a little more."

"This game was not how we should end our season," Frohlich said. "Right now I just feel very empty. This is the most talented team I've been on since I've been here. Tomorrow I'll probably wake up and feel the pain of not getting where we're supposed to be."

A WNIT bid on Sunday night no doubt would take the sting out of Wednesday night's loss.

"It's the same thing as the last two years," Frohlich said. "I just hope we have a better shot of getting invited this year."

"I feel like we let ourselves down as well as everybody else involved, including the community," Miller said. "We really wanted to represent UNLV in the NCAA Tournament this year. Hopefully, we'll still get a chance to play in the postseason."

Brigham Young 62, UNLV 54

UNLV (18-9)

Frohlich 7-18 4-5 20, Ingalls 0-1 0-0 0, McCracklin 0-1 0-0 0, Gambill 2-7 1-1 6, Jinks 6-15 0-0 12, Davis 1-3 7-8 9, Lof 0-0 0-0 0, Johansson 1-3 0-0 3, Sanders 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 19-52 12-14 54.

BYU (17-11)

Rose 3-5 4-8 10, Osguthorpe 3-9 0-0 7, Beus 1-1 4-8 6, Thorn 3-11 4-4 13, Jensen 3-9 1-2 9, Shippen 0-1 0-0 0, Whetten 1-5 2-4 5, Leitner 4-6 3-5 12, Cheesman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-47 18-31 62.

Halftime--UNLV 30, BYU 24. 3-Point goals--UNLV 4-12 (Frohlich 2-6, Gambill 1-3, Johansson 1-3), BYU 8-21 (Thorn 3-8, Jensen 2-5, Whetten 1-2, Leitner 1-2, Osguthorpe 1-3, Shippen 0-1). Fouled out--None. Rebounds--UNLV 31 (Frohlich 7), BYU 40 (Beus 11). Assists--UNLV 12 (Gambill 6), BYU 10 (Jensen 3, Whetten 3). Total fouls--UNLV 22, BYU 15. A--NA.