Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Future looks bright for UNLV women

The end of the season for the UNLV women's basketball team was swift and sure in Friday night's game at Oregon State.

In the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament, the taller Beavers, who scored 20 of the game's first 25 points, relentlessly pounded it inside for easy baskets and a 77-58 victory.

The Rebels finished 17-12.

"We ran up against some tall post players," UNLV coach Regina Miller said. "They just took it to us inside and really dominated the boards. We had to play catch-up, and it was really difficult to overcome."

However, anyone who thinks Miller's program is sliding should take note of its third consecutive appearance in a postseason tournament, something the Rebels hadn't achieved since 1991.

"I think that's a real positive," Miller said. "Before we played against BYU in the conference tournament, that's what we talked about -- how an opportunity to play in any postseason tournament would be very positive.

"The seniors played in a postseason tournament in three of their four years, and a lot of players can't even say they made it to one postseason in their career. That's something to build on. We have to turn that into championships, and we feel like we're right there."

Miller knew the 2002-03 season would be challenging without Linda Frohlich, the program's all-time scoring leader with 2,355 points.

With Frohlich, the Rebels outscored opponents 71-59 two seasons ago. This season, that edge was shaved to 66-63.

Constance Jinks, a gifted guard from Chicago, led the Mountain West Conference by averaging almost 21 points during the league season.

"I knew they would have to balance out the scoring, and they did," Miller said. "On several occasions, Constance had to be our go-to person. But it was more balanced, and it will be even moreso next season."

The low point, Miller said, was not an overtime loss to BYU -- in which Erin Thorn beat the buzzer with a game-winning 3-point shot for the Cougars -- in the first round of the Mountain West tournament.

Instead, Miller said it was a 73-72 defeat at Air Force on Jan. 30. UNLV had won 11 of its first 16 games, and a victory against the Falcons would have given the Rebels a 9-5 league record, tying them for second.

That would have given UNLV a better opening draw in the league tournament.

The game before Air Force was a 73-69 win against BYU at the Thomas & Mack Center, which Miller called the highlight of the season. A season earlier, with Frohlich, UNLV lost by double figures to BYU three times as the Cougars went all the way to the Sweet 16.

"We couldn't beat them all (of 2001-02)," Miller said, "and they had the majority of their players return (this season)."

The Lady Rebels had an ominous start to the Mountain West tournament when sophomore post Sherry McCracklin accidentally slammed her right knee into Jinks' right thigh during a warmup drill before playing BYU.

Jinks scored only 10 points in that game. Then came the finale before 1,500 hostile fans dressed in orange and black at Gill Coliseum.

Sherry McCracklin will miss her older sister Dishawn, a post player hampered by a variety of injuries in her senior season, but will welcome RanDee Henry.

A 6-foot-1 center who sat out this season after transferring from Detroit Mercy, Henry will have two seasons of eligibility, which will enable the 6-2 McCracklin to play her more-natural position of power forward more frequently.

Mostly at center, McCracklin shot 51.6 percent from the field, averaging 11.2 points and a team-high 8.6 rebounds.

Sheena Moore, a 5-7 guard from Lansing, Mich., showed plenty of grit during her rookie season, but she will be tested in trying to match the steady Julia Gray's assists-to-turnovers ratio of better than 2-to-1.

Miller is confident that Moore, McCracklin and Henry will form the foundation for a possible fourth consecutive trip to a postseason tournament. Miller pushed her fifth UNLV team hard, and she was pleased with how it responded.

"They mostly kept themselves in the game so they'd have an opportunity to win," Miller said. "They were probably more gutsy and hungry to win than we were a year ago. And I thought we were very good a year ago.

"But this team had a lot of character and was strong-willed, and those are pluses."

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