Lady Rebels earn spot in WNIT against Oregon State

Monday, March 17, 2003 | 10:02 a.m.

UNLV fifth-year women's basketball coach Regina Miller gathered her players at her house Sunday for a few hours of billiards, music and team bonding.

It proved beneficial when a WNIT official phoned her with news that the Rebels (17-11) were selected to play in the first round of that tournament Friday night at 7 against Oregon State (14-14) in Corvallis, Ore.

"They were excited," Miller said. "The majority of the team is from the Midwest, so they didn't know where Corvallis is. They've never been to Oregon, so this is good."

Miller planned to study a videotape of an Oregon State-Oregon game Sunday night. She will give her players today off, then they will practice three times before flying to Eugene, Ore., and making the 45-minute, country-road trek north to Corvallis.

"Playing again is good for our program in many ways," Miller said. "We get to continue to play into March, and our seniors didn't want to go with the bounce of a ball."

Brigham Young guard Erin Thorn hit a late 3-point shot in overtime, when a rebound deflected to her, to oust UNLV from the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

In the women's NCAA tournament, BYU opens against Colorado in the Mideast region, and Midwest first rounders include Utah vs. DePaul and Mountain West tournament victor New Mexico vs. Miami (Fla.).

UNLV, BYU and Colorado State finished 8-6 in the league, behind Utah (12-2) and New Mexico (9-5).

"Our conference is very strong, one of the best in the country," Miller said. "With three teams in the NCAAs, I thought our chances of going to the WNIT were good. The team is looking forward to playing in the postseason.

"When you think of the automatic bids, there are some teams in the NCAAs that we could beat by 15, 20 points. It's not necessarily the best teams, with automatic bids going to mid-majors and smaller conferences. There are a lot of very good teams in the NIT."

Miller will take the Rebels to their third consecutive postseason tournament. They won at Loyola Marymount two years ago in the WNIT before losing at Oklahoma State, and they lost to Minnesota in the first round of the NCAAs last season.

Miller pronounced senior scoring whiz Constance Jinks healthy and eager to play. In a warmup drill before the BYU game, teammate Sherry McCracklin accidentally kneed Jinks in her right thigh.

Jinks led the league by averaging almost 21 points a game during the season, but she limped noticeably as she went 4-for-17 from the field, finishing with 10 points, in the defeat to the Cougars.

"In practice the last couple days, she seems OK," Miller said. "We should be at full strength."

The Beavers won 12 of 14 games at Gill Coliseum this season, and coach Judy Spoelstra relies on 6-foot-2 forward Hollye Chapman (12 points) and 5-7 guard Leilani Estavan (11.6 ppg) for scoring.

McCracklin, a 6-5 sophomore center who had a career game with 24 points and 12 rebounds against BYU, will contend with 6-5 junior Brina Chaney, who averages 8.4 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds.

UNLV is 2-1 all-time against Oregon State, and the Rebels won the only time they have visited Corvallis, a 68-57 victory in the 1989-90 season.

"(The Beavers) like to play up-tempo, like us. By Tuesday, we'll know a lot about them," Miller said. "It was just very neat that the whole team was here when the call came, and they want to have another opportunity to show what they're capable of doing."