Lady Rebels see progress

Adam Candee

Monday, Feb. 14, 2005 | 9:30 a.m.

UNLV coach Regina Miller looks down the sideline at most of the same faces, yet looks at the standings and sees something totally different.

A team built to skate through the season not just regionally, but nationally, is just trying to stand up and walk without holding the railing. Already holding more conference losses than they did all of last year, the Lady Rebels took a step toward righting themselves Saturday at Cox Pavilion with a 77-54 victory against San Diego State.

The Aztecs (7-14 overall, 1-7 Mountain West Conference) earned their only conference win this season by defeating UNLV (12-10, 3-5) by 16 points a month ago in San Diego. While San Diego State definitely qualifies as a team the Lady Rebels should beat, translating even small successes from theory to practice is a win for Miller.

"Where we're at is baby steps, one game at a time, playing well enough to win games," Miller said. "We're totally opposite from where we were a year ago."

Last season, UNLV stood 6-2 in MWC play at this point, in a year when the team lost three times in the first three months. The only major difference in this year's team is the season-long absence of senior forward Sherry McCracklin because of injury, but the Lady Rebels are experiencing new challenges.

A good example is losing in January at San Diego State to a team that looked as bad as any in the conference Saturday.

"You're upset, like, we can't believe we let that happen before," UNLV senior forward RanDee Henry said.

Henry played a strong game that helped ensure the Lady Rebels' victory, scoring 18 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. She almost out-rebounded the Aztecs (18) on her own, and the Lady Rebels held a 46-18 edge on the boards.

The outrageous statistics did not end there, as UNLV shot 72 percent (18 of 25) from the field in the second half, blowing open a 13-point halftime lead and finishing the Aztecs long before the buzzer.

"I was pleased with our effort. I thought we played hard," Miller said. "The only thing that concerns me was our unforced turnovers."

That, unfortunately for UNLV, was another outrageous number. The Lady Rebels committed 31 turnovers, which will not be as easy to overcome when Colorado State and Wyoming visit this week.

Junior guard Sheena Moore led the Rebels with seven turnovers, but also added 12 points and five assists in 22 minutes. UNLV also had strong play from junior guard Brittney Thomas, who had her best outing since cracking the starting lineup four games ago with 11 points and four assists.

Sophomore guard Michelle Elliott led San Diego State with 16 points, but UNLV defended the Aztecs well. San Diego State scored just five field goals in the first half and shot 34 percent (18 of 54) overall, and UNLV also had 15 steals.

"We made some mistakes, but thank goodness our defense picked it up for us," Henry said.