Lady Rebels win key MWC game

Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 10:13 a.m.

Earlier in the year, the Lady Rebels were basiclaly a two-man team, as forwards RanDee Henry and Sherry McCracklin were doing the majority of the scoring and rebounding.

Then when guard Sheena Moore rejoined the lineup, UNLV became the Big 3, which in turn became Four Score after senior guard InFini Robinson tallied a career-high 24 points in a victory over San Diego State Saturday.

But how do you describe a team that goes nine deep?

For now, "winners" will have to do.

The box score will show that it was the usual suspects -- Moore (21 points), Robinson (17), Henry (17) and McCracklin (16) -- who carried the Lady Rebels to a key 92-87 Mountain West Conference victory over perennial contender Colorado State Thursday night.

But eyewitnesses at Cox Pavilion will testify that reserves Padra Strong, Nejlah Clark, Kameca Simmons and Amy Loftus also put their fingerprints all over UNLV's latest victory, its eighth in a row and second in as many MWC starts.

Those four, with Robinson providing the glue, formed a makeshift lineup that found itself on the floor with four minutes to play in the first half and CSU on top, 32-29. Not only did they hold their ground, they also made some up, fueling a spurt that put the Lady Rebels ahead, 38-35, at halftime.

UNLV (13-2) never trailed after that, holding off CSU (10-6, 1-2) with solid shooting from both the field (51 percent) and free-throw line (31-of-44).

"We're a team," Robinson said about the Lady Rebels' starters getting by with a little help from their bench friends.

"Whether we go six, seven or eight deep, we want to maintain the same level of intensity. So it doesn't matter if we go seven, eight, nine or even 10 deep. We expect that from our reserves. So that wasn't a surprise at all."

The four Pine Sisters logged 49 minutes, combining for 17 points and 11 rebounds.

"We all have chemistry (with the starters) and we play together," said Strong, a senior forward who played 20 minutes and scored six points while spelling McCracklin and Henry, who both ran into foul trouble. "We got the lead and it kind of changed the tempo of the game."

UNLV coach Regina Miller said even she was surprised when she looked up and saw the Lady Rebels' second string running up and down the court.

"With that lineup I had on the floor, we had basically one starter. That's where I thought 'Infini had better start taking some shots,' " Miller said with a chuckle. "But I thought we were better conditioned and we had a little more depth. Their bigs made some plays but they also turned the ball over, and that triggered our fastbreak."

Colorado State's Melissa Dennett was virtually unstoppable down low, scoring a game-high 28 points in just 25 minutes on 14-of-17 shooting. But when Dennett wasn't dropping the ball in the basket, the Lady Rebels were taking it away. They forced 21 CSU turnovers while committing just 12 themselves, a vast improvement over their 21 average coming in.

The Lady Rebels had trouble keeping the taller Rams from setting up on their spots, as CSU shot a blistering 58 percent (38-for-66) from the field.

When the Rams were patient, it usually took them about 30 seconds to get a shot they wanted. Then the Lady Rebels would take the ball out of the net, race to the other end and usually get a lay-up in about five seconds.

"That's kind of our game plan," Miller said. "We feel we're the better conditioned team. But I was concerned we didn't have better post defense. We gambled sometimes going for the pass, trying to make great plays instead of just playing solid defense."

Still, it a solid effort by a UNLV team which may have sent a message to the rest of the Mountain West. This was a CSU team that played Notre Dame, which routed two-time defending national champ UConn, to a 4-point loss earlier this month.

"I would have to think we have the potential to be in the midst (of the MWC title chase)," Miller said.