Lady Rebels sent on road to Iowa State for semis

Friday, March 26, 2004 | 10:38 a.m.

A few minutes after the Lady Rebels defeated Western Kentucky at Cox Pavilion Wednesday night to advance to the Women's National Invitation Tournament final four, an enthusiastic UNLV supporter made her way down to the press table.

"So are you guys goin' to New York?" she wanted to know.

Wrong tournament.

Unlike the men's NIT, the women's version doesn't offer the semifinalists an all-expense paid trip to New York City and Madison Square Garden.

So instead of the Big Apple, the Lady Rebels will get a little corn on the cob. On Thursday night, they boarded a red-eye flight to the Heartland, where they'll meet Iowa State in Ames at noon on Sunday.

But the truth is they couldn't be happier about it.

Playing on the road is better than not playing at all, and after beginning the tournament with narrow victories at home against Arizona State (50-47), Rice (68-66) and WKU (78-75), the Lady Rebels figured they'd be packing their bags, anyway.

They officially learned of their fate early Thursday night, just after the Cyclones (18-14) knocked off Saint Joseph's 66-58 in the final quarterfinal, at Hilton Coliseum in Ames.

"Like I've been saying, a ball and a bucket is all we need," said senior point guard InFini Robinson, who has been playing some of the best basketball of her UNLV career during the Lady Rebels' WNIT run.

"Our motto all along was to win the WNIT, not just to be (satisfied) playing in it. We're serious about it."

The UNLV-Iowa State winner will advance to play either Creighton or Richmond with site and date to be determined. The Blue Jays and Spiders will meet in Sunday's other seminfinal in Omaha.

Iowa State and UNLV have never met in women's basketball. This is ISU's first appearance in the WNIT but there's a good reason for it. In each of the past six years, the Cyclones have qualified for the NCAA tournament.

Unlike the Lady Rebels, who are led by the high-scoring trio of forwards RanDee Henry and Sherry McCracklin and guard Sheena Moore, Iowa State features only one player who averages double figures.

Anne O'Neil, a junior guard who transferred to Iowa State from Illinois, tops the Cyclones with a 12.8 scoring average. Beyond her it's a matter of balance, as seven Cyclones are averaging at least seven points per game.

Iowa State, which finished 7-9 in the Big 12 regular season, beat Idaho State (72-59) and Miami of Ohio (71-57) before eliminating Saint Joseph's. Even more impressive were regular-season wins over three nationally ranked teams: No. 2 Texas Tech (64-63), No. 15 Oklahoma (65-61) and No. 18 Baylor (81-72), with each of those victories coming in Ames.