Second chance for McCracklin fits her to a T

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 9:51 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: UNLV at Oregon State

When: Today, 7 p.m.

Where: Corvallis, Ore.

TV: None

Radio: None

Not to get too technical, but UNLV sophomore center Sherry McCracklin will not soon forget her gaffe against Brigham Young last week.

"I took the loss on my shoulders, really, because I shouldn't have gotten the technical foul," McCracklin said. "I felt if I hadn't gotten it, maybe we would have won the game."

Rebels coach Regina Miller hopes McCracklin shakes that sour memory by tonight, when UNLV (17-11) plays Oregon State (14-14) in Corvallis, Ore., in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

McCracklin had a career game with 24 points and 12 rebounds against BYU. But, to her, getting whistled for a second-half technical foul overshadowed anything positive she did in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament.

The technical allowed BYU's Erin Thorn to make two free throws. The Cougars retained possession, and Thorn stuck it to the Rebels with a 17-foot jump shot.

In a 15-second span, a 39-35 lead for the Rebels evaporated. UNLV had to scratch back to force overtime and BYU won on Thorn's 3-point shot from the top of the key with 2.8 seconds left.

Immediately after the final buzzer, McCracklin crumpled to the ground as that technical foul dribbled into her thoughts. It hasn't left.

"I still think about it, actually," she said. "We should have won that game. I don't look at it as a career game. If it was a career game, we should have at least won. Those were just stats. If it was a game we would have won, I would have looked at them differently."

Sherry and older sister Dishawn, a UNLV senior forward, call Hazel Crest, Ill., home. Dishawn landed in Las Vegas after hometown DePaul did not offer her a scholarship.

Following her sister was an easy choice for Sherry. Fielding the inevitable calls from her two competitive uncles, however, will not be as simple. Otis Nixon and Donnel Nixon, former major league baseball players, tutored Sherry and Dishawn about always remaining calm and composed.

"They've always told me not to take each game so seriously," said Sherry McCracklin. "I haven't heard from them, but I'm pretty sure they'll get on me about that technical foul."

McCracklin stabbed at the ball as she defended BYU center Danielle Cheesman on the perimeter when UNLV led, 39-35, almost eight minutes into the second half of last Wednesday's game at the Thomas & Mack Center.

As McCracklin went to grab it, she said, Cheesman grabbed one of her hands, a few players hit the deck and the ball skipped out of bounds.

"(A) ref put his hands up, like, 'no call,' " McCracklin said. "The ball was loose, one of my teammates went to get it and it fell out of bounds, and they gave the ball back to BYU. And the ref was like, 'no call, no call.'

"I was like, 'Call the foul!' "

Not exactly. When pressed, McCracklin confirmed that wasn't precisely what she said.

"Uh, no. Not really," she said, smiling wryly and looking down. "I threw in a little extra word in between 'Call the ... foul.' "

Lost was the fact that McCracklin, an iffy free-throw shooter, went 12-for-13 at the line against BYU, including two high-pressure makes with 17.4 seconds left in regulation that forced OT.

"I do feel like, yeah, that game was a sign of what I want to do every game," McCracklin said. "But as a team, we're ready. We felt like we shouldn't have lost to BYU, and we will take out all our anger and frustration on Oregon State."