UNLV cranks up ‘D’ to frustrate Utah

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, March 7, 2002 | 10:14 a.m.

Just call her "The Glove."

UNLV's Kinesha Davis got the start in Wednesday night's Mountain West Conference Tournament quarterfinal against Utah for one main reason ... her defense. And the 5-foot-9 senior guard from Brooklyn Center, Minn., certainly didn't disappoint.

Davis and junior backup Talisha Mitchell combined to hold Ute sharpshooter Lindsay Herbert, who riddled the Lady Rebels for 32 points and eight 3-pointers just four days earlier, to nine points on Wednesday night to help lead UNLV to a 57-38 victory over Utah before a crowd of 1,985 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The victory sends the Lady Rebels (22-6) into Friday's semifinals at 2:30 p.m. against top seeded and 18th-ranked Colorado State (24-5), a 79-68 winner over Air Force.

"The first (win) is always tough to get (in a tournament) and we got it tonight," Lady Rebel head coach Regina Miller said. "I thought we played with a lot more intensity than we did last Saturday when we played Utah (and lost, 69-65). I thought our defense was able to take them out of their rhythm offensively. ... We didn't give up 13 3-pointers tonight."

Utah, which made 13-of-22 treys in Saturday's win over the Lady Rebels, was just 3-for-11 on Wednesday and committed 24 turunovers. But the biggest difference was the job Davis, with some help from Mitchell, did on Herbert.

Herbert came into the game ranked second in the nation in 3-point shooting, hitting an amazing 49.8 percent of her treys. And she hit her first one on Wednesday night to give Utah a 3-2 lead with 18:45 left in the first half.

But Herbert was held scoreless for more than 31 minutes after that before finally sinking a free throw with 7:11 remaining in the game. By that time the Lady Rebels, behind the play of conference MVP Linda Frohlich (17 points, 14 rebounds), guard Julia Gray (10 points, 6 assists, 5 steals) and freshman center Sherry McCracklin (10 points, 4 rebounds), were already comfortably in front, 48-30.

Herbert, in fact, didn't even attempt a shot in the first 12:49 after intermission because of Davis' intense defensive pressure.

"I knew I had to make (Herbert) work and not give her easy shots, which is what we did on Saturday," Davis said. "We broke their confidence. We had them rushing shots. Talisha did a great job, too. She helped me out because fighting off the screens for 40 minutes, that's a pretty hard job. But we did a great job together."

Davis played 28 minutes and had seven points, five rebounds and three steals. Mitchell played 15 minutes and added four points and two steals.

"I knew I had to guard her better," Davis said. "I knew I had to go over the top of screens and, if we switched, to communicate better. That also was something we didn't do well on Saturday."

Davis said she wasn't discouraged when Herbert came out and drilled her first 3-point attempt.

"Nah, I just told myself that was all she was getting," Davis said.

"Kinesha and Talisha did a tremendous job on Herbert," Miller said. "That's why we started Kinesha. And that's why we'll start her Friday, too."

Ah, Friday. That's when the Lady Rebels can really make a statement to the NCAA Tournament selection committee with a victory over the Rams. The two teams split during the regular conference campaign, but the Lady Rebels hammered CSU without Frohlich and center Petra Glaser, 71-59, on Feb. 14 at the Thomas & Mack. UNLV led, 42-17, early in the second half of that contest.

"Tonight was a great win, but it's a different season now," Davis said. "We know Colorado State is going to be out to beat us. But I think there's almost no pressure on us. They're the No. 1 seed. They're supposed to win. But if we play hard and with pride and can stop their 3's, I like our chances."