MWC notebook: Lady Rebels’ Frohlich three-peats as league’s top returning player

Steve Addy

Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2001 | 10:05 a.m.

DENVER -- Linda Frohlich wants her UNLV basketball legacy to be more than gaudy statistics.

Her greatest wish is for the Lady Rebels to earn an NCAA Tournament bid in her final season.

Frohlich, a 6-foot-2 forward from Germany, was chosen the Mountain West's top returning women's player for the third straight year after averaging a league-best 19.2 points and 9.5 rebounds. The two-time MWC player of the year is 131 points from breaking Misty Thomas' UNLV career scoring record (1,892 points).

But as plentiful as her individual accolades have become, Frohlich is hoping the Lady Rebels are ready to finally emerge as an upper-echelon program. They got to the Women's NIT last season, beating Loyola Marymount before losing to Oklahoma State.

With a strong supporting cast that could lessen Frohlich's workload, an NCAA berth isn't out of reach for UNLV in its first season in the new Cox Pavilion.

"It's been my goal throughout my career to make this team better," Frohlich said. "We've been better each year, so I think I've accomplished that. But the next step is the NCAA tournament. We're hungry for that. We're starving."

Coach Regina Miller, who played in the Women's Final Four for Old Dominion in 1984, begins her fourth season heading the Lady Rebels, and progress has been steady with a 53-33 record so far.

The program has developed strong senior leaders in Frohlich, Kinesha Davis and Erin Johansson, but it also has accumulated talent in each class, including junior point guard Constance Jinks, sophomore center Petra Glaser and freshman frontcourt candidate Sherry McCracklin.

"We really have good balance," Miller said. "I would like to sit back this season and be the biggest cheerleader, instead of being the person who jump-starts them. I think they have earned that trust."

Frohlich and Miller agreed that the Lady Rebels' summer trip to Germany and Belgium, on which they went 5-0, stimulated needed chemistry and growth.

"We were together 24-7 for 10 days and it didn't harm us," Frohlich said. "We didn't get on each other's nerves. It was a different atmosphere in which we could all come together and become friends, not just teammates."

The Utes are without their top scorer, guard Kevin Bradley (10.7), who is transferring, but they were voted No. 2 in the MWC preseason poll because their other starters return.

Last year, Majerus handed his team to assistant Dick Hunsaker after undergoing knee surgery and two heart procedures.

"I won't be as familiar with the (rest of) the league. I won't be as familiar with some of my own players," Majerus conceded. "But I'm looking forward to practice. I like practice."

Las Vegas native Jim Roban gained an NCAA injury waiver for a sixth year of eligibility, so the 6-7 guard will walk on for the Aztecs.