Monday, March 14, 2005 | 9:15 a.m.
Earning a berth in the battle for the title of 65th-best team in the country is never totally satisfying, but the Lady Rebels feel a bit emptier than usual this year.
UNLV accepted a spot Sunday night in the Women's National Invitation Tournament for the fourth time in the past five years, two days after losing a late lead to New Mexico in the final minutes of a 70-67 defeat in the Mountain West Conference tournament semifinals. The Lady Rebels (16-14) will travel to play Arkansas on Friday night and they are likely to remain in the South if they win that game, as they are scheduled to take on the winner of the Mississippi State-Arkansas State contest.
UNLV advanced all the way to the WNIT final last year before falling at Creighton. That trip was supposed to be the springboard into this season's anticipated run at the conference championship, but injuries and inconsistency landed UNLV right back in college basketball's consolation tournament.
Lady Rebels coach Regina Miller gave her team the option of whether to accept the WNIT berth, and the players voted to continue to season.
"They want the opportunity to continue to play," Miller said. "I support my kids. We're in it to win it."
Miller informed WNIT officials earlier Sunday that her team would accept a bid if invited, but she admitted surprise at being sent halfway across the country for a first-round game. The Lady Rebels will make the second-longest trip of any visiting team, with only Fresno State going farther to play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
BYU, the other Mountain West representative in the WNIT, makes just a short trip north to play Gonzaga for the opening round of the 32-team, single-elimination tournament.
Arkansas (16-13) struggled through Southeastern Conference play, compiling a 3-11 record. The Lady Razorbacks have lost five of their past six games.
A tough Mountain West semifinal loss -- 59-55 against Utah -- began last season's WNIT journey as well. With standout players Sheena Moore, RanDee Henry and Sherry McCracklin coming back for this season, though, any postseason success was considered a bonus for the Lady Rebels.
Fortunate scheduling allowed UNLV to play its first three games of the WNIT at Cox Pavilion, where it defeated Arizona State, Rice and Western Kentucky before heading to Iowa State for the semifinals. In Ames, the Lady Rebels stunned the Cyclones, 65-59, a victory that whetted the appetite for 2004-05.
Those dreams vanished quickly this year, as McCracklin did not play a game after partially tearing her Achilles tendon in the preseason. Without McCracklin's rebounding and toughness, UNLV had little inside presence and struggled to find a comfortable lineup until the middle of the season.
By that time, the Lady Rebels had lost close games against nationally ranked Minnesota, North Carolina and Iowa State -- contests that Miller envisioned as opportunities her team to raise its national profile. UNLV then stumbled out of the gate to a 2-5 record in Mountain West play before rebounding to earn the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament.
They defeated Wyoming, 64-59, in Thursday's MWC quarterfinals and the Lady Rebels played a tight game with the conference champion Lobos for the third time this season. As they have all season, the Lady Rebels struggled to close out an opponent, squandering a 65-59 edge with 5:50 to play.
"We know we were in a position to win that game," Miller said.
The Lady Rebels last went to the NCAA turnament in the 2001-02 season, their last with three-time All-American Linda Frohlich leading the team.
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