Snubbed Lions gearing up for Lady Rebels

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, March 14, 2001 | 10:21 a.m.

Loyola Marymount women's basketball coach Julie Wilhoit and about 200 friends, family and Lions' boosters got together Sunday afternoon at Albert Gersten Pavilion to watch the NCAA Tournament pairings' show on ESPN.

It was going to be a historic afternoon for LMU. Never before in school history had the school's women's basketball squad participated in the NCAA Tourney. And armed with 21 victories, including an impressive 64-58 upset of Mountain West champ Utah in Salt Lake City, an RPI rating in the low 40's and a narrow 58-53 loss to St. Mary's in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game finale, that was all supposed to change.

It didn't.

Some players cried, mainly because they felt sorry that all-WCC guard Taryn Reynolds, the Lions' lone senior who had battled back from a knee injury, wouldn't get another chance to make it to March Madness.

"There was a sense of mourning," Wilhoit said. "We felt we had everything in place ... the RPI, the tough schedule, 21 wins, making it to the tournament final ... but the selection committee saw it differently. We were disappointed but not discouraged."

Especially when a few hours later Wilhoit and company found out they would be hosting UNLV (18-9) on Thursday night in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

It will be the first postseason basketball appearance for the Lions (21-9), who hadn't even won a WCC Tournament game before this year.

"This has definitely been a year of many firsts for us," Wilhoit said. "I'm very appreciative that our school would put in a bid for us to host this game. It shows the commitment the school has behind our program."

The Lions did it with balance. Two players --- Reynolds and junior guard Bryn Britton --- were first team all-WCC picks while another, sophomore swingman Kate Murray, was honorable mention. During one five-week stretch of WCC play four different Lions garnered player of the week honors.

"They remind you a lot of BYU," said UNLV coach Regina Miller. "Their guards are very comparable to (BYU's) Erin Thorn and Stacy Jensen."

The winner of Thursday night's game plays the winner of Friday night's North Texas at Oklahoma State contest on March 17-19 at a site to be determined.