UNLV makes WNIT final

Monday, March 29, 2004 | 9:12 a.m.

It may have sounded like rhetoric at the time, but two weeks after they talked the talk about winning the Women's National Invitation Tournament, the Lady Rebels now have a chance to walk the walk.

Because after four consecutive last-minute victories, UNLV still has its (little) dancing shoes on.

After beating Arizona State by three points, Rice by two and Western Kentucky by three at home, the Lady Rebels reprised the narrow win routine in a hostile road environment Sunday afternoon. They overcame a 10-point deficit midway through the second half to knock off Iowa State 65-59 in a WNIT semifinal played in front of a crowd of 7,305 at Hilton Coliseum on the ISU campus at Ames, Iowa.

UNLV (26-7) will play Creighton in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday night for the WNIT crown, with tipoff set for 5:05 p.m. Las Vegas time.

"I'm so proud of this team," UNLV coach Regina Miller said after the Lady Rebels' postseason magic continued against long odds. "We put ourselves in a position to win the championship, and that's all we wanted to do."

The Lady Rebels, who had never advanced beyond the second round of the WNIT, trailed 47-37 with 12:13 to left. That's when their strategy to launch one 3-pointer after another against Iowa State's sagging zone defense finally began to pay off.

Guards InFini Robinson and Sheena Moore keyed a 14-3 UNLV run with four consecutive 3-pointers that gave UNLV a 51-50 lead and set the stage for another exciting finish.

The game was tied three times down the stretch before the Cyclones took a 59-57 lead on a driving layup by Katie Robinette with 2:04 to play. She was fouled on the play but missed the free throw that would have given Iowa State a three-point lead.

That proved crucial when Moore buried a 3-pointer while being fouled with 47 seconds to play. She, too, missed the free throw, but the Lady Rebels were able to close out the win by sinking five of six free throws in the final 32 seconds as Iowa State misfired on three consecutive 3-pointers.

"We've built this mental confidence and now we're just happy to be playing in the final," Miller said. "Once we got down by 10, we fought hard and our defense came back, and that gave us a chance to win this game."

But were it not for the guards' timely 3-point shooting, the Lady Rebels' WNIT title hopes would have been reduced to corn oil. UNLV wound up taking a school-record 30 3-pointers and hit a season-high nine, including three each by Moore and Robinson.

When they trailed by 10, it appeared as if the long shots would be the Lady Rebels' undoing, as they made just four of their first 21 attempts from beyond the arc. But that's when Moore and Robinson found their range.

"My teammates said to just keep shooting," said Moore, who led the Lady Rebels with 17 points and also pulled down six rebounds. "I knew eventually we would hit some shots."

Miller said ISU pretty much forced the Lady Rebels into making some shots by collapsing on RanDee Henry and Sherry McCracklin in the post. Henry, UNLV's leading scorer, finished with 14 points but McCracklin was held to a single field goal in six attempts and went scoreless during the first 32 minutes.

"When RanDee and Sherry are being doubled and tripled like they were, (our guards) are usually good about making those shots," Miller said, noting her team's off-shooting night (19-for-61, 31 percent).

"We didn't shoot well today, but we shot well when it counted. And we played good team defense, especially pressure defense. That's how we won it, with defense and controlling the boards, limiting their second chances." Meanwhile, the Lady Rebels worked hard on the boards to get a lot of those second chances for themselves. They outrebounded Iowa State 46-35, with 20 of those coming on the offensive glass. UNLV, facing little defensive pressure on the perimeter, only turned over the ball six times, a far cry from the WNIT opener against Arizona State, in which they were hounded into a season-high 33 turnovers.

In addition to Moore, Henry and Robinson (10 points), the Lady Rebels also received a nice effort from small foward Nikki Hitchens, who scored 13 points. And reserve guard Nejlah Clark, normally noted for her defense, hit two 3-pointers in the first half that helped stake UNLV to a 28-27 halftime lead after the Lady Rebels led by as many as seven points. Erica Junod paced Iowa State (18-15) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Lyndsey Medders added 12 points and Megan Ronhovde 10 before fouling out.

Anne O'Neil, the Cyclones' leading scorer, was held scoreless on 0-for-6 shooting. Iowa State, which beat three Top-25 teams this year, including then No. 2 Texas Tech, lost despite shooting 43 percent from floor and 41 percent from 3-point range (9-22).