Monday, Nov. 29, 2004 | 9:29 a.m.
The springboard of a moral victory does not provide the bounce that the trampoline of an actual upset against an elite team would have for the Lady Rebels.
For UNLV coach Regina Miller, though, the moments of brilliance and grit displayed by her team Sunday night in an 84-76 loss to No. 5 North Carolina at Cox Pavilion make up the difference and finally start to reveal the unit she expected when scheduling teams such as the Tar Heels this year.
"They're going to think about us come postseason," Miller said. "As we continue to get healthy and gain more experience, we have an opportunity to really compete against teams like North Carolina later in the year."
It's still quite early in UNLV's year, as evidenced by the 18-point hole it dug less than 10 minutes into the game. The Lady Rebels settled in and gamely battled back with a 15-2 run before twice pulling within a basket in the second half, but never could draw even against a tested Tar Heels squad that exploited UNLV's late miscues and consistently found open looks en route to shooting 56 percent.
"There were a couple of opportunities where we had a chance to score and we didn't convert," Miller said.
So while UNLV froze early and then rushed too much late, North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell still sees truth in Miller's hope for development.
Hatchell, the fourth-winningest coach in women's college basketball history, recalls Miller as a tenacious player from Old Dominion and remembers facing her Western Illinois team in the 1995 NCAA tournament. The story is always the same.
"Her teams always play hard," Hatchell said. "They're physical, they get after it, they rebound -- that's how she was as a player and that's how you expect her teams to play."
If not for the numbing opening nine minutes, such effort might have been enough for UNLV. The Lady Rebels (2-3) trailed by 31-13 early in the first half after watching the Tar Heels coolly -- and "surprisingly," according to Miller -- pick apart a zone defense specifically called to stop them with crisp passing that led to open shots.
The efficiency and precision -- not to mention the skill -- of the Tar Heels (5-0) shocked the Lady Rebels.
"I think it kind of caught us off-guard as a team," Moore said.
In a game that highlighted what the Lady Rebels miss with starting forward Sherry McCracklin sidelined, Miller went to the zone to combat North Carolina's size advantage and to attack what she saw on tape as a stagnant Tar Heels' offense against the zone. Guards Ivory Latta (28 points) and Leah Metcalf (10 points) drained four 3-pointers in less than eight minutes to dispel that idea.
What most impressed Miller is that her team did not crack under the pressure of its hefty deficit.
"Early in the game, it showed me the character of this team," Miller said.
The Rebels switched into man-to-man defense and hounded the Tar Heels on the perimeter and in the passing lanes, forcing turnovers and creating the kind of easy transition opportunities that North Carolina used to build its lead.
By the time Moore, who led the Lady Rebels with 25 points, converted an easy layup off a steal by defensive stopper Nejlah Clark, UNLV trailed 37-34 just seven minutes after appearing done.
The North Carolina lead grew as wide as 13 points early in the second half as forward Erlana Larkins, a 6-foot-2 true freshman, exploited UNLV's lack of inside size without McCracklin for six quick points on her way to 22 for the game. Again, the Lady Rebels answered, as Moore hit a 3-pointer after forward Sequoia Holmes put back an offensive rebound to cap a 12-2 UNLV run to trail 59-56 with 14:30 to play.
"We fought our way and scratched back in to the game," Moore said. "That's what I'm most proud of with this team."
With the crowd pulsing and the Tar Heels reeling, UNLV could not deliver a knockout blow. Senior forward RanDee Henry, who totaled 19 points and nine rebounds, forced a handful of bad shots on the next few minutes and Moore added one of her own as UNLV never got closer than 73-71 with 6:07 remaining.
"We pressed a little bit and you want to learn from that," Miller said. "There's a lot more to our offense than to just go one pass and go one-on-one."
Moore realized that UNLV's late offensive struggles ended up doubly penalizing the team.
"We rushed a few shots and that sparked their fast break," Moore said.
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