Miller reveals cautious optimism for new season

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005 | 10:04 a.m.

Looking at her roster for the 2005-2006 season, Lady Rebels head coach Regina Miller has a hard time containing her enthusiasm.

In addition to returning four starters from last year's squad, the Lady Rebels are welcoming back Sherry McCracklin, who was the Mountain West Conference defensive player of the year as a junior but missed all of last season with an ankle injury.

"Of all my years at UNLV thus far, this is one of the better feelings I've had going into a season," said Miller, who begins her eighth season at UNLV when the Lady Rebels open the season this weekend at the DePaul Invitational in Chicago.

But Miller is cautious not to get overly excited after being bit the injury bug last season and finishing a promising season with a 16-15 mark and a fifth-place tie in the conference.

"You can't predict what happens with injuries," Miller said.

At this point, I have some bodies to work with and the players seem to be quite motivated, which is nice."

The Lady Rebels figure to be led by seniors McCracklin and Sheena Moore, who led UNLV last season with a 14.6 scoring average, and sophomore Sequoia Holmes, who averaged 8.2 points and five rebounds as a freshman.

Holmes, from Mojave High School, was one of the Lady Rebels who benefited from the injuries that plagued UNLV last season.

"Although the injuries were unfortunate," Miller said, "they did open opportunities for players that might have seen limited minutes."

Road show

The Lady Rebels will play five of their first seven games on the road because Miller wants to test her team that won only one of seven road conference games last season.

UNLV, which finished with a 6-8 conference record last season, was picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West this year in a poll of the conference's coaches.

Miller said she believes the Lady Rebels learned from some of their close defeats last season five of UNLV's conference losses were by a total of 15 points. More importantly, Miller said, her players believe they can compete for the conference championship.

"It's not enough that the coaches think they can ... the players believe they can and that's half the battle. If the players believe that they can compete, then we've got a chance," Miller said

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Brian Hilderbrand can be reached at 259-4089 or at bh@lasvegassun.com.