Thursday, March 3, 2005 | 9:23 a.m.
Through the injuries, the inconsistency and even the officiating that has troubled them, the Lady Rebels have remained competitive in all of their Mountain West Conference games.
That is, with one notable exception: BYU hammered UNLV by 26 points almost a month ago in Provo. With the Cougars (16-9, 7-5) arriving tonight at Cox Pavilion to challenge UNLV's 10-game home winning streak, Lady Rebels coach Regina Miller made sure to remind her team about its only disastrous loss in conference play this week.
"I challenged them," Miller said. "I just reminded them that we played 3 minutes that game. They controlled the pace."
Miller felt her team competed only for the first few minutes on Feb. 5 against BYU before the Cougars controlled most everything in a 74-48 victory that marked UNLV's low point in conference action at 2-5. UNLV rebounded from that point to win four of its next five games, the only loss by three points last Saturday at New Mexico.
The teams meet again with the third seed for next week's conference tournament on the line, though the Lady Rebels' regular season-ending game Saturday against Utah (21-6, 10-2) will also determine where they finish.
Tied with Wyoming for fourth place, UNLV can finish anywhere from third to sixth in the conference. If the Lady Rebels sweep BYU and Utah, they will clinch the third seed in Denver.
The permutations fly open if UNLV (15-11, 6-6) splits the games or loses them both. Both Wyoming (15-10, 6-6) and sixth-place Colorado State (14-11, 5-7) take on New Mexico (21-4, 10-2) and Air Force (7-18, 2-10) at home to finish.
Miller feels fairly confident against most opponents that UNLV might face in the tournament, considering her squad has either beaten or played to within eight points of every team in the Mountain West - except BYU. The flipside for UNLV, though, is that it is just 2-5 in games decided by three points or less.
Thankfully for the Lady Rebels, they are playing as well as they have this year coming into tonight's game.
"I think that, through some of the adversity we've faced, we're playing as well as to be expected," Miller said.
The Lady Rebels lead the Mountain West in scoring at 69.1 points per game, paced by junior guard Sheena Moore (15.2) and senior forward RanDee Henry (14.6). UNLV, though, will need to be strong defensively against the inside play of BYU to succeed. Cougars senior forward Danielle Cheesman is tied for second in the conference in rebounding with Henry at 8.4 per game and BYU leads the Mountain West with an average plus-7 rebounding margin. BYU also leads the conference in shooting at 43.3 percent.
For UNLV to win, Miller feels it must heavily emphasize defensive transition and turning steals and stops into points in the open court. The Lady Rebels do not have the size, she said, to do anything but force a faster tempo with their slew of capable guards.
"It's much easier to slow down the pace than it is to pick up the tempo," Miller said.
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