Lady Rebels ousted by Okla. State in Round 2

Steve Guiremand

Monday, March 19, 2001 | 10:46 a.m.

Excuse Regina Miller and her UNLV Lady Rebels basketball squad if they were in somewhat of a "foul" mood on their flight back from Stillwater, Okla., this morning.

One look at the final stat sheet following UNLV's 71-67 second-round WNIT loss at Oklahoma State would make even the most skeptical person raise an eyebrow.

Especially this line: Free throws attempted -- Oklahoma State 37, UNLV 3.

The Cowgirls outscored the Lady Rebels by a 24-2 margin at the free-throw line. Still, UNLV overcame its foul problems to almost pull it out at the end.

Junior guard Erin Johansson, whose 3-point shooting helped rally UNLV from a 15-point second-half deficit, just missed a 23-footer from the top of the key with 12 seconds left that would given the Lady Rebels a 70-69 lead. Instead, it bounced off the front of the rim and Oklahoma State forward Kara Foulk got the rebound and was fouled.

Foulk, an honorable mention all-Big 12 pick, then sank both free throws with 10.1 seconds remaining to seal the victory for Oklahoma State.

"When you play in a game like that, you want to try and win it in regulation," Miller said, alluding to the one-sided free-throw shooting. "Erin sparked our comeback with a pair of 3s. When she released it, I thought it was going in."

Johansson's shot came only after sophomore guard Constance Jinks made a great play to come up with a rebound of a Linda Frohlich miss on a 10-foot turnaround jumper which would have tied the game at 69.

"That's pretty incredible," Miller said of the free-throw stats. "We played well enough to win the game."

Frohlich finished with a team-high 15 points and nine rebounds while 6-foot-6 freshman center Petra Glaser overcame early foul problems to score 10 points and grab 12 rebounds.

"I thought our team played hard and with a lot of heart," Miller said. "If we had another 30 seconds, I think we would have found a way to win."

Despite the tough loss, Miller was upbeat about the future of her team. The Lady Rebels (19-10) made the postseason for the first time in Miller's three years and have key players such as Frohlich, a two-time Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, Glaser, Jinks, Johansson and guard Kinesha Davis back next season.

"I think playing in the WNIT was a very positive experience for this team," Miller said. "Our goal is to reach the (NCAA Tournament) field of 64 and this should be good experience for our players coming back in that regard. They got a taste of the postseason in March. But we want to not only play in March, but also in April. I think this is something we can continue to build on."