Lady Rebels build momentum

Adam Candee

Monday, Jan. 31, 2005 | 9:34 a.m.

Finally, UNLV enjoyed a conference game that stuck to the script.

A 76-51 whitewash of lowly Air Force on Saturday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center came at the right time for the Lady Rebels as they gear up for the challenging trip this week to Utah and BYU.

Coming off a Thursday home upset of New Mexico that completed a strange opening four-game stretch of Mountain West play, UNLV carried the necessary momentum through a game against the Falcons in which it raced to an early 26-10 lead and never led by fewer than 10 points thereafter.

Forward RanDee Henry totaled 19 points and seven rebounds in just 24 minutes for the Lady Rebels (11-8, 2-3), who began conference play with a surprising loss at San Diego before dropping two close games on a trip to Wyoming and Colorado State.

"We have everything behind us right now," Rebels guard Sheena Moore said.

Moore added 13 points and rested for most of the second half as Lady Rebels coach Regina Miller played 11 players for 10 minutes or more against the Falcons (6-12, 1-4). Reserves like forward Kisha Lee (eight rebounds in 13 minutes) and center Amy Loftus (eight points, four rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes) impressed Miller.

Despite playing middling ball through 19 games, UNLV can draw into the race for the conference title with a pair of wins on this trip. To do so, the Lady Rebels must improve on a poor road record that includes just one win in five tries.

UNLV's only road win this year came in December at Detroit against an awful Titans team. Miller, though, feels like her team's gutty job of finishing off New Mexico in a must-win game can translate to success in the hostile buildings of the Utah schools.

"I think the New Mexico game was the most important in helping us prepare for the road," Miller said. "That was the first game in a while where we were able to play with the lead and finish with the lead."

UNLV swept this upcoming trip last season after losing both games of it two years ago. The Lady Rebels begin the journey at Utah (15-5, 4-1) on Thursday night and continue to BYU (11-7, 2-3) on Saturday afternoon.

In addition to finishing games, Miller saw much-needed improvement in her team's ability to curtail mistakes. She set a limit of 20 per game at the beginning of the season, owing to her team's uptempo style. The Lady Rebels stayed below that mark in both of this week's victories.

The key, Miller said, is not stringing together mistakes as they did in their opening conference losses.

"You think about basketball as a game of runs," Miller said. "But we don't want to trigger other people's runs."