Lady Rebels face key MWC game against Rams

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.

With every victory, the Lady Rebels are starting to gain acceptance as a bona fide Mountain West Conference championship contender, although it has probably been more slowly than surely.

But UNLV can hasten its rise on the credibility meter Thursday when Colorado State visits Cox Pavilion at 7:30 p.m.

While it has been a few years since Becky Hammon put the CSU women's program on the NCAA map, the Rams are still considered one of the teams to beat in the Mountain West. They are 10-5 overall and 1-1 in the conference after having their 17-game MWC home winning streak snapped 55-51 by preseason favorite Utah on Saturday.

The Lady Rebels, who have won seven consecutive games and nine of their past 10, are MWC's hottest team. They are 1-0 in conference play following a 76-58 victory against San Diego State Saturday and received votes in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll.

"All games in the conference are just as important as the others," UNLV coach Regina Miller said. "But it would be nice to have a win against Colorado State. They're one of the best teams in the conference and they've got a good RPI (ratings percentage index). You always want to try to upset the teams in front of you."

Utah is the highest-rated MWC team in RPI at No. 41, followed by Colorado State at 50. The Rams' power rating was enhanced by a competitive 63-59 loss to Notre Dame, which later beat up on two-time defending national champion Connecticut. The Lady Rebels are No. 77 on this week's RPI list.

Miller said she's still not entirely sure what to expect from CSU, at least when the Lady Rebels have the ball.

"They came in here last year and played junk defense on us and we took it to them pretty good," Miller said, noting UNLV's 90-71 victory. "Then they played straight man-to-man and beat us good at their place (74-36). I'm still trying to figure out what they might do."

Based on those results, the Lady Rebels probably can expect a lot of man-to-man in a battle of extremely balanced teams.

Four of CSU's five starters are averaging between 12.1 and 12.5 points per game, while UNLV has three offensive threats in forward RanDee Henry, the Mountain West's leading scorer with an 18.6 average, forward Sherry McCracklin and guard Sheena Moore.

And more help may be coming. UNLV guard InFini Robinson broke out of her shooting doldrums in a big way during the win against San Diego State, scoring a career-high 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 6-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc.

"They're a little bit like us, in that on any given night they've got a number of players who can put up good numbers," Miller said. "They're a little bit bigger than we while we rely on quickness.

"But we can't allow them to get into a groove and get into their rhythm, or they'll make (shots) all night."