Lady Rebels set for shot at Pac-10

Thursday, March 18, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

Here's how the Lady Rebels have fared all-time in the WNIT:

In the big picture, the Lady Rebels, 22-7 with only one senior in the starting lineup, envision themselves as contenders on a national scale. Someday.

In the smaller picture, they'd like to start by beating somebody from the Pacific-10. Tonight.

Their WNIT opener tonight against Arizona State at Cox Pavilion beginning at 7:30 will provide the Lady Rebels, and to a lesser extent, the Mountain West Conference, with another chance to strike a blow against the bigger league from the West.

Lately, UNLV's blow-striking machine has been firing blanks against the Pac-10. The Lady Rebels earlier this year lost 61-51 at UCLA, and in this very position last year lost 77-58 in a WNIT first-rounder at Oregon State.

While UNLV is 23-28 all-time against the Pac-10, it hasn't beaten once of its members since the 1989-90 season, when Jim Bolla's 28-3 team beat Oregon State.

That might seem like a trivial fact. But when you're in the same living rooms as the Pac-10 coaches, trying to sign the same players, it can be a detriment to recruiting.

"They recruit California and so do we," Lady Rebels coach Regina Miller said of Arizona State. "They've got a kid from Colorado coming off the bench, Alisha Godette, who we really wanted."

Then, of course, there also are bragging rights, which could give the Lady Rebels a little extra motivation after Friday's disappointing 59-55 loss to Utah in the MWC semifinals that essentially removed UNLV from NCAA tournament consideration.

"They're a Pac-10 team, and if we can beat them, that puts our name out there that we are better than the Pac-10," said Sherry McCracklin, UNLV's leading rebounder. "We played at Oregon State last year and they kind of took it to us, so this is like our second chance. We're glad to have the opportunity."

Until the last month of the season, there was a possibility that these two teams could have met in the Big Dance rather than the little one. Arizona State, which beat No. 7 Stanford 73-53 on Feb. 7, appeared headed for an NCAA berth before it dropped five of its past seven games, including a 70-50 decision to UCLA in the Pac-10 quarterfinals.

ASU also played at UConn this year, losing 81-55 to the defending national champions.

Charli Turner Thorne, in her eighth year as head coach, has guided the Sun Devils to a school-record five consecutive postseason appearances. Arizona State features a balanced and defensive-minded attack headed by 5-7 junior guard Kylan Loney (10.1 ppg), a first-team all-Pac 10 selection.

"There are a lot of very good teams in this tournament and they're one of them," Miller said. "Like us, they like to get up and down the court. They'll shoot the 3 in transition, so we've got to defend it."

As for the disappointment of not advancing to the NCAAs, Miller is hopeful the Lady Rebels will look at the WNIT as an opportunity to prove the selection committee wrong.

"Right now, this might even the best tournament for us because we've got a chance to win it," she said, assuming the role of spin doctor. "We talk about being big time, but we've got to do what it takes to get there. This is the next step."