Lady Rebels stay unbeaten at home

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2003 | 10:05 a.m.

As has been the case every game this year, UNLV's Sherry McCracklin came out ready to play against Cal Poly late Tuesday afternoon.

Two minutes in, the rest of the Lady Rebels joined her.

McCracklin scored 21 points and pulled down 15 rebounds in 30 minutes to lead the Lady Rebels to an easier-than-expected 83-57 victory against the Mustangs from the Big West Conference on Linda Frohlich Night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

While Frohlich's No. 13 jersey was retired to the rafters at halftime, McCracklin's focus was 10 feet off the ground at either end of the court. Her tenacious rebounding sparked UNLV after a slow start, when visions of Sunday's big win over Mississippi State still were dancing in the Lady Rebels' heads like sugar plums.

"Sherry McCracklin came out ready to play," said UNLV coach Regina Miller, whose team improved to 9-2, including 7-0 at home. "She was into it from the beginning. It was just a solid effort."

McCracklin, who is responsible for more double-doubles than the In-N-Out burger across the way on Maryland Parkway, recorded her ninth such game in 11 starts -- by halftime. She had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the first 20 minutes as UNLV rallied from a couple of early deficits to take command, 48-27.

"It's really nice," Miller said about being able to count on McCracklin every time the Lady Rebels hoop it up. "Rebounding is such an important part of the game and to have someone like Sherry go and get the basketball like she does is quite refreshing."

And more fun that it might appear. McCracklin, the niece of former major league ballplayers Otis and Donnel Nixon, said she prefers rebounds to points.

"Anybody can score points," said McCracklin, the nation's leading rebounder with a 13.0 average. "Rebounding takes a lot of focus."

Curiously, UNLV, which had been outrebounding its collective opponents by a 10.2 margin (the nation's fifth-best mark), most the battle on the boards, 44-41. But that was misleading, as many of the Mustangs' rebounds came during garbage time which in this one, began pretty early.

The ease with which UNLV handled Cal Poly was surprising in that the Mustangs (4-5) had played Loyola Marymount to a one-point loss on Dec. 13. Three days later, LMU whipped the Lady Rebels, 76-64. Cal Poly also has a 76-55 victory against Air Force of the Mountain West.

But if Poly planned to leave Las Vegas with another cracker, McCracklin made sure it only got crumbs, Her supporting cast included RanDee Henry, Nikki Hitchens and Padra Strong, each with 10 points, with the slender Strong coming off the bench to get hers. In fact, 33 of the Lady Rebels' 83 points were scored by non-starters.

UNLV had one of its better shooting nights, sinking 28-of-59 (47.5 percent) from the field and 24-of-35 from the free-throw line in a foul-marred game. Cal Poly, which was led by forward Katy Patterson's 15 points, shot 37 percent from the floor and made just 7 of its 21 free throws.

The Lady Rebels will return to action Saturday at St. Mary's of the West Coast Conference before returning home for a final pre-Mountain West tuneup against Northern Arizona on Jan. 11.