Nov. 6, 2000
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STORYLINE: The UNLV women's basketball team will begin its 27th season with a pair of exhibition games this week. The Lady Rebels play host to the Chinese National Team on Tuesday as part of a preseason exhibition doubleheader with the UNLV men's basketball team before entertaining the National Women's Basketball League #8 Elite team on Saturday.
LADY REBELS ON THE AIR: Once again, all Lady Rebel games will be broadcast on radio throughout the Las Vegas area on KENO 1460 AM. Returning for his 14th season as the Voice of the Lady Rebels, Bob Blum, the dean of West Coast broadcasters, will deliver the play-by-play. He will be joined courtside by former Lady Rebel Cheryl Kosewicz, who will handle the color commentary for all UNLV home games.
THE LADY REBELS: UNLV returns 11 letterwinners and four starters from last season's 17-12 team that finished fifth in the inaugural season of the Mountain West Conference ... Head coach Regina Miller begins her third season with the Lady Rebels and has a record of 34-23 (.596) ... UNLV finished the 1999-00 campaign with wins in six of its last eight games. That stretch includes a six-game winning streak sandwiched by a pair of losses to Utah, the conference champion, by a total of six points.
THE OPPONENTS: The Chinese National Team began its fall touring schedule last Sunday night with a 81-69 victory at Arizona State. The team's schedule includes a stop at Northern Arizona on Monday, Nov. 6 before Tuesday's matchup at the Thomas & Mack Center. UNLV is the third of an eight-game, 10-day tour for the team.
Saturday's game is the third in a four-game, five-day West Coast swing for the NWBL #8 Elite team. The NWBL opens its tour on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at Cal State Northridge and will play at Pacific on Friday, Nov. 10 before heading to Las Vegas.
UNLV IN EXHIBITION GAMES: The Lady Rebels split their two preseason exhibition games last season, defeating the NWBL 89-60 and falling to the New Zealand National Team, 74-60. Against the NWBL, Linda Fr?hlich scored a game-high 32 points as UNLV erupted in the second half, outscoring its opponent 48-21. Former Creighton standout Melissa Sanford, who appears on the NWBL roster again this year, led her team with 23 points.
It was New Zealand who used a second half run against UNLV, outscoring the Lady Rebels 20-6 over the final 4:47 of the game to seal its victory. UNLV's Erin Johansson scored 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting from three-point land.
LADY REBELS RETURN TO THE THOMAS & MACK: After rolling to a 10-5 record in its first full season at the Thomas & Mack Center, UNLV is happy to return to the venue in 2000-01. The Lady Rebels own an all-time record of 85-29 in the Mack, in the arena's 18th season of basketball.
UNLV CHOSEN FOURTH IN PRESEASON POLL: At its annual media day, the Mountain West Conference released its preseason coaches and media polls. The Lady Rebels were chosen to finish fourth in the MWC standings in both polls following a fifth-place finish and an 8-6 conference mark a year ago. Utah was chosen in both polls to defend its conference title.
FR?HLICH EARNS PRESEASON HONORS: Honors are nothing new to junior standout Linda Fr?hlich, but the 6-2 forward from Oldendorf, Germany, has a couple more honors for her trophy case. She was chosen as a preseason All-American by Street & Smith's magazine after earning honorable mention All-America honors last season by both the WBCA and the Associated Press. She was also selected as the preseason Mountain West Conference Player of the Year by the league's coaches at its annual media day for the second straight year.
MILLER HONORED IN THE OFFSEASON: Head coach Regina Miller collected some honors of her own this summer. In addition to a contract extension which will keep her on the Lady Rebels' bench through the 2002-03 season, Miller was chosen as a court coach at the 2000 USA Basketball Women's Summer Development Camp, which is the trials for the Jones Cup team. She spent a week in Colorado Springs, Colo., working with many of the nation's elite players trying out for the national team.
FR?HLICH TO PLAY FOR GERMAN NATIONAL TEAM: As one of the top players in her home country of Germany, Linda Fr?hlich was selected to the German National team and will compete with the team in Germany for two weeks in mid-November. Although the international experience will help her as a player, the bad news is that she will miss the Lady Rebels' first three regular season games. She will miss the season opener against Texas-San Antonio and both games in the Cox Communications/Lady Rebel Classic before rejoining the team prior to its first road trip of the year.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Lady Rebels will officially begin the 2000-01 campaign on Monday, Nov. 20 when they host Texas-San Antonio at 7:35 p.m. in the Thomas & Mack Center.
