Columnist Dean Juipe: Lady Rebels rescue male counterparts

Dean Juipe

Monday, Jan. 7, 2002 | 11:09 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

It saved the weekend from a UNLV basketball fan's perspective. And, perhaps, heralded a shift in our priorities.

After all, would you rather get too caught up following a UNLV men's team that appears destined for a middle-of-the-pack finish in the Mountain West Conference, or, instead, focus on a refreshing Lady Rebels squad that has championship potential?

The latter became apparent Sunday on national television when Linda Frohlich and Constance Jinks had outstanding games in lifting UNLV to a 62-53 victory over 17,000 antagonists and the New Mexico Lobos.

A night earlier, the UNLV men lost by a 69-59 score to Wyoming that did little but reinforce the belief that the Rebels are ridiculously short on team height and far too reliant on an outside game that inevitably goes through drought-like stretches.

The Rebels -- who get something of a reprieve tonight in Colorado Springs with an Air Force team that has played well of late while still being regarded as the conference patsy -- have too many gaps in their game to be considered a potential NCAA Tournament team. Heck, they're only No. 110 in the new Rating Percentage Index.

The Lady Rebels, meanwhile, have had RPI troubles of their own this season in that they played a fairly soft pre-conference schedule, yet winning at the sold-out Pit in their MWC opener verifies their legitimacy. They overcame not only the Lady Lobos but a large and vocal crowd, plus the supposedly negative impact of playing at a high altitude -- to say nothing about the pressure of playing on TV, a first for UNLV in nine years.

The conditions were demanding and Frohlich and Jinks responded with spectacular outings, especially during a first half in which the Lady Rebels established a lead that was later threatened but never relinquished. Neither kept pace with their first-half point production, but Frohlich finished with 20 and Jinks with 25 as UNLV upped its record to 13-1 and dared poll voters to exclude them from the top 25 again this week.

If that acceptance remains slow in coming in the aftermath of this huge win, it would have to be the result of the belief that the Lady Rebels have only two scoring threats and that they lack the necessary balance to be an imposing team. And there's a good deal of truth to that, sorry to say.

But that twosome has the ability to dominate, as was especially evident in the first half when Frohlich and Jinks combined for 33 of UNLV's 36 points. While they regularly lead the team in scoring and average 48 percent of the team's point total, this stretched that concept of dominance to an almost uncharted plateau.

New Mexico, 11-4, won't be the toughest team the Lady Rebels will play during the conference season, but it has the advantage of a fervent following and its distance from sea level. Yet it was the Lobos who looked to be huffing and puffing as the clock wound down.

As wins go, it was a great one for the program and head coach Regina Miller.

It was also a good one for Las Vegas in general, coming as it did the day after its most prominent sports team looked so mediocre.

It hasn't happened in a long time, but this was a weekend where the women came to the rescue of the men.