Lady Rebels need strong week to secure NCAA berth

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, March 5, 2002 | 9:25 a.m.

A look at the other three first-round games to be played Wednesday:

No. 2 New Mexico (21-6, 10-4) vs. No. 7 San Diego State (10-17, 2-12), noon

The Lobos, led by former Moapa Valley star Jordan Adams (14.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg), swept the regular season series with the Aztecs, winning 58-49 in San Diego and 63-53 at The Pit. For the Aztecs to have any chance at pulling off the upset they'll have to do a good job on the boards. The Lobos led the conference in rebounding margin (plus-6.1 per game) and have outrebounded their opponent in their last 13 consecutive games.

No. 3 BYU (19-8, 10-4) vs. No. 6 Wyoming (13-14, 5-9), 2:30 p.m.

Jeff Judkins has his Cougars peaking at the right time thanks in part to a bruising and smothering defense. BYU has won 9 of its last 11 games losing only at Colorado State and New Mexico in that span. "We're probably playing as well as we have all year," Judkins said. Forward Jennifer Leitner, the conference's second-leading rebounder (8.6 avg.), will play after sitting out the regular season finale at San Diego State with thigh and knee injuries. Wyoming has been hit hard by injuries recently including star guard Carly Stucky, who had two teeth knocked out and needed stitches to close a gash on her chin.

No. 1 Colorado State (23-5, 12-2) vs. No. 8 Air Force (4-23, 0-14), 6 p.m.

The Rams have something to play for in this tournament -- a possible top four regional seed in the NCAA Tournament which would mean first- and second-round home games at Moby Arena. Senior guard Angie Gorton (13.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 2.8 apg) is getting a push for conference player of the year honors in Fort Collins. Air Force guard Latoya Howell leads the conference in steals with a 3.26 average per game.

A week ago an NCAA Tournament berth seemed like a lock for the UNLV Lady Rebels.

All they had to do was split their final two home games against BYU and Utah and maybe win a first round Mountain West Tournament game and they could pack their bags. But the Lady Rebels, who had been a perfect 13-0 at home, lost to both the Cougars and Utes.

Instead of an expected second place finish in the Mountain West Conference, Regina Miller's squad ended up fourth. And if the Lady Rebels (21-6, 9-5) want to guarantee themselves a spot in March Madness for the first time since 1994, they now likely need to make an impressive showing in this week's MWC Tournament to do it.

It won't be easy. UNLV faces the same Utah (15-11, 8-6) team it just lost to on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack. If the Lady Rebels get by the Utes, conference champ Colorado State (23-5, 12-2) will likely be waiting in Friday afternoon's semifinals at 2:30. The championship game is Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

"Our mind set is that we have to win the tournament now," junior guard Constance Jinks said. "We just have to win it."

"We have to view everything as if there's no tomorrow," Miller said. "That's our attitude. If we can win the tournament, then we don't have to leave anything to chance."

Despite the Lady Rebels' disappointing regular season finish against the Utah schools, this week's CollegeRPI.com mock NCAA Tournament bracket projection still has UNLV as a 10th seed in the Midwest Regional against Drake in a first round game at Purdue. The popular Internet site, which nailed all but two of the NCAA Tournament's at-large picks a year ago, projects four Mountain West teams being invited. The other three are Colorado State, New Mexico and BYU.

Still, that could all change depending on the number of upsets in conference tournaments this week which could gobble up some at-large berths.

UNLV split with Utah during the season, defeating the Utes, 79-71, in Salt Lake City on Jan. 31 before losing Saturday afternoon's rematch, 69-65, at the Thomas & Mack.

The Utes have three starters back from a team that went 28-4 and posted a perfect 14-0 mark in the Mountain West last season. What makes last Saturday's victory even more impressive is the fact Utah did it without one of its best players, senior guard Erin Gibbons.

Gibbons, who is sixth in the MWC in scoring with a 13.6 avg. and ninth in assists (3.0), missed last week's game with a broken nose and the flu.

"She should be back," Utah coach Elaine Elliott said. "Hopefully we'll be at full strength."

Still, it will be another guard, Lindsay Herbert, who figures to garner most of UNLV's attention after she scored 32 points in Saturday's win, including 8-of-12 from 3-point range. The 5-foot-11 senior from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, leads the nation in 3-point shooting (69 of 141, 48.9 percent).

"She did just a great job of shooting the ball," UNLV forward Linda Frohlich said. "There's no doubt that she was on fire. We couldn't fix it. Now we have four days to try and find a way to put out the fire."

"We just have to come out and play better defense than we did before and do it for 40 minutes," Jinks said. "We beat them once and we can beat them again. It's just going to take a much better defensive effort."

Wednesday night's 8:30 game is the last of four quarterfinals to be played that day and will be shown on tape delay by Las Vegas One (Chs. 1 and 39) at 10 p.m.