Lady Rebels climb even in MWC

Adam Candee

Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 9:26 a.m.

All is not cured, but at least the Lady Rebels can think about success instead of survival for the first time in almost a month.

UNLV won its third game in a row Saturday at Cox Pavilion, holding off Wyoming, 70-66, after giving away most of a 12-point lead in the final eight minutes of the game. The Lady Rebels (14-10, 5-5) remained undefeated at home in Mountain West play, but must improve on their winless conference road mark this week on their trip to Air Force and New Mexico to truly get back into contention.

Simply having that opportunity is an accomplishment for a team that appeared deeply in trouble after losing by 26 points two weeks ago at BYU to fall to 2-5 in conference. The Lady Rebels are now tied for fourth place with Colorado State (14-9, 5-5), a half-game ahead of Wyoming (14-10, 5-6) in the race to avoid one of the conference's best teams in the opening round of the MWC tournament.

Junior guard Sheena Moore led UNLV with 20 points and five assists Saturday, as the Lady Rebels won their 10th consecutive game at home.

"I don't know what it is, but we're clicking more," Moore said. "Our chemistry is flowing."

Senior forward RanDee Henry totaled 13 points and seven rebounds, while freshman forward Sequoia Holmes continued her strong season with 12 points, six rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Brittney Thomas, who chipped in with 11 points and five assists, is emerging late in the season as a solid player as well.

They all contributed to an excellent defensive effort against Wyoming senior guard Ashley Elliott, the conference scoring leader entering the game at 17.9 points per game. Elliott finished with 13 points, but scored just three of them in the first 37 minutes.

"We knew the game plan, knew what they wanted to do," Moore said. "It was up to us to go out there and execute on the court."

UNLV did execute well until those final three minutes. Leading 62-54 with 2:35 to play, Elliott began a one-person comeback attempt by scoring 10 points in 2:03 to trim the Lady Rebels' lead to 65-64 with 32 seconds remaining.

Wyoming fouled sophomore guard Kameca Simmons, who made one of two shots but rebounded her miss on the second shot. Moore then made two free throws to up the lead to 68-64, and Holmes sealed the game on a home-run layup with five seconds left.

"You can't get nervous," Moore said. "They made a good run, but we came through."

Nothing comes easily for coach Regina Miller's team this year, but she is happy to see progress in UNLV's ability to stand tall after taking an opponent's best punch.

"I'm just glad we're able to sustain runs better than we were early in the year," Miller said. "It's a sign of maturity."

After this week's road trip, UNLV closes the regular season at home against Utah on March 3 and BYU on March 5.