Feb. 13, 2001

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

STORYLINE: The UNLV Lady Rebels (14-7, 4-5) head down the backstretch of Mountain West Conference play this week with two home games ... First, they entertain Air Force (3-18, 0-8) on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 7:35 p.m. PST ... The Rebels ran to a 31-point victory over the Falcons in their first meeting this season in Colorado Springs, Colo., and have won eight straight in the series ... The game is part of the national "Take a Kid To the Game" promotion, and all children will be admitted free with a paying adult ... Thursday's game is also "UNLV night," and all faculty and staff will be admitted free of charge with a staff ID ... On Saturday, Feb. 17, UNLV hosts New Mexico (14-8, 5-3) in a 7:35 p.m. matchup ... The Lobos erased a 15-point UNLV lead with a 35-2 run to drop the Rebs, 79-51, at the Pit on Jan. 18 ... With its 5-3 MWC record, UNM sits in fourth place in the league standings, just ahead of UNLV ... New Mexico has defeated UNLV in Las Vegas only once in 11 meetings.

LADY REBELS ON THE AIR: Thursday's game will be shown on tape delay in Las Vegas on KTUD UPN Cable 14/Channel 25 on Sunday, Feb. 18, at 2:00 p.m. John Daily, Chris Maathuis and Trip Mitchell will call the action. And, all Lady Rebel games are broadcast in Las Vegas on KENO 1460 AM and throughout the world on unlvrebels.com. 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. Joining him courtside will be former Lady Rebel Cheryl Kosewicz, who handles the color commentary for all home games.

THE LADY REBELS: UNLV (14-7, 4-5) 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 ... For the first time this season, the Rebels lost back-to-back games last week, falling to BYU, 89-83, and losing to No. 17 Utah, 74-43 ... Head coach Regina Miller is in her third season with the Lady Rebels and has a record of 48-30 (.615) ... Miller collected her 100th career victory as a head coach in the win over Eastern Washington ... UNLV is led by Linda Fr?hlich, who paces the MWC in scoring with 17.5 ppg and 9.0 rpg.

ABOUT AIR FORCE: Air Force (3-18, 0-8) lost at New Mexico, 65-52, in its only action last week ... The Falcons return six letterwinners and two starters from last season's 4-24 team that finished eighth in the Mountain West Conference with a 1-13 mark ... They are coached by Sue Darling, who has a 12-63 (.160) record in her third season at AFA ... Junior forward Rozalyn Russ leads the Falcons in scoring with 9.6 ppg and in rebounding with 6.3 rpg.

AIR FORCE SERIES NOTES: The Rebels lead the all-time series, 8-1 ... The series began just four years ago when UNLV joined the Western Athletic Conference prior to the 1996-97 season ... The Falcons won the first meeting, 67-62, but have lost all other eight games ... The teams played six times as WAC rivals ... UNLV has won all three MWC meetings by at least 30 points. Their 33-point win in Colorado Springs and 30-point victory in Las Vegas were the two largest margins of victory last season ... AFA's ShaNekia Peebles hails from Fayetteville, N.C., the same hometown as Rebel freshman Padra Strong. Strong is a 2000 graduate of Pine Forest High School while Peebles played at rival Hayfield High.

ABOUT NEW MEXICO: New Mexico (14-8, 5-3) enters the week in fourth place in the MWC standings ... The Lobos defeated Air Force, 65-52, in their only action last week ... They return 10 letterwinners and four starters from last season's 18-11 team that tied for third in the Mountain West Conference with a 9-5 mark ... They are coached by Don Flanagan, who has a 114-58 (.663) record in his sixth season at UNM ... Sophomore center Jordan Adams leads the Lobos in scoring at 15.6 ppg and in rebounding with 5.8 rpg.

NEW MEXICO SERIES NOTES: UNLV leads the series 13-5 ... New Mexico stopped the Rebels' three-game winning streak with its 79-51 win at the Pit on Jan. 18 ... Perhaps the biggest meeting in the series came in the first round of last year's MWC Tournament when Constance Jinks drove for a layup with 10 seconds left to lead UNLV to a 52-50 win ... UNLV won the first meeting, 71-64, in 1974-75, its first season of competition ... Lobo center Jordan Adams is a product of Moapa Valley High School, just north of Las Vegas.

TEAMWORK: The Rebels suffered their worst defeat of the season last time out, falling to Utah by 31 points, 74-43 ... It was the first time UNLV lost back-to-back games since losing both games on the same road trip last year ... In front of its largest crowd in 12 years (2,148), the Lady Rebels erased a 14-point deficit to come from behind and beat Wyoming, 69-61 ... The Rebels posted their largest margin of victory in the Regina Miller era with their 41-point blowout of San Diego State, 82-41. It was the biggest win for UNLV since a 95-52 victory over San Jose State in 1993 and tied the record for largest win in a MWC game set by BYU against SDSU last year ... Four players scored in double figures vs. the Aztecs. En route to the win, the Rebels used their largest scoring run of the year, a 27-0 roll covering 11:04 ... The 31-point win at Air Force was the third straight win in the series by 30 or more points ... UNLV has seven double-doubles on the season: Linda Fr?hlich (5) vs. CSUN (17 pts, 11 reb), UNR (17 pts, 14 reb), at SDSU (21 pts, 10 reb), at BYU (14 pts, 18 reb), and at Utah (23 pts, 14 reb), Brooke Ingalls (1) vs. CSUN (11pts, 11 reb), and Dayna Gambill (1) vs. UNR (12 pts, 11 asst).

WITH THE BALL: Through 21 games, UNLV is averaging 68.6 points per game, which ranks third in the MWC ... The Rebels lead the league in field goal percentage, shooting .446 (531-1,191) from the field ... Five Rebels (Gambill, Gl?ser, Ingalls, Johansson and Jinks) are shooting 75 percent or better from the line ... UNLV topped the 80-point mark for the sixth time this season in the loss at BYU. In that game, the Rebels ripped off an 11-1 run in less than a minute to cut the Cougars' lead to three points ... In the win over the Aztecs, Dayna Gambill had eight assists and no turnovers ... Utah held the Rebels to a season-low 29.3 percent from the floor ... Against Pacific, Linda Fr?hlich broke the school record for single-game shooting percentage, connecting on 16-of-17 (.941) field goals for a season-high 37 points. In just 30 minutes, Fr?hlich was three points shy of a career high and seven points shy of the school record ... UNLV shot a season-best .870 (20-23) from the line against Cal State Northridge ... UNLV has had at least three players in double figures in five of the last six games. Kinesha Davis had scored 10 or more points in four straight before netting only five at Utah, including a season-high 21 at BYU.

DEFENDING THE POST: The Lady Rebels are doing it with defense this season. They have allowed only three opponents to shoot better than 50 percent from the floor in a game and have lost all three games ... The Rebels are forcing 19 turnovers per game and rank second in the MWC in turnover margin (+1.38). They pressured SDSU into coughing up the ball a season-best 34 times, and at least five times against BYU, UNLV forced a turnover by denying the Cougars a shot before the 30-second clock expired ... The Rebels kept Air Force to just 23.9 percent shooting from the floor, the lowest total by any opponent all season, and did not allow the Falcons a shot from inside three-point range for the first 16 minutes of the game ... After pulling down 18 and 14 rebounds in repective games at BYU and Utah last week, Linda Fr?hlich upped her league-leading average to 9.0 rpg, and nearly seven of those are defensive boards. Her 18 rebounds at BYU is the best single-game performance in the MWC this year, topping Viveca L?f's 16-rebound effort against Arkansas-Pine Bluff ... Brooke Ingalls pulled down a career-high 11 boards against Cal State Northridge to record her first-ever double-double ... The Rebels stole the ball a season-high 16 times from Pacific ... Linda Fr?hlich and Constance Jinks both rank among the top 10 in the league in steals ... UNLV has 53 blocked shots in 21 games and didn't record its 53rd block until the 24th game of last year. Linda Fr?hlich ranks third in the MWC with 23 blocks, followed by Petra Gl?ser's eight and Viveca L?f's seven.

OUCH!: UNLV used the same starting lineup for 11 straight games before Brooke Ingalls suffered a concussion in the second half at San Diego State. In the next game against Colorado State, center Petra Gl?ser suffered a small fracture in her knee which kept her out of the next three games. In the four games since, UNLV has used four different starting lineups. Both of the regular starters' injuried are listed as day-to-day.

UNLV RECEIVES VOTES IN AP POLL: The Lady Rebels made their third appearance in the Associated Press poll, receiving one vote on Jan. 1. However, that vote was lost in the Jan. 8 poll despite UNLV's 70-56 victory over UC Irvine in its only appearance that week. UNLV received three votes in the 2000-01 Preseason poll, tying them with Stephen F. Austin for 45th. After losing the three votes without playing a game, the Rebels reclaimed two of the votes in the Dec. 4 poll and tied for 49th. Those votes were lost in the week following a loss at No. 27 Arizona. The Associated Press poll ranks only the top 25 teams, but includes all other teams that also received votes. UNLV has not been ranked among the top 25 since Jan. 18, 1994, when the Lady Rebels ranked 25th with a 10-2 overall record.

ON THE TUBE: Four times this season the Las Vegas UPN affiliate KTUD Channel 25/Cable 14 has broadcast the Lady Rebels from the Thomas & Mack Center, on tape delay. It is believed to be the most in-season television appearances in the program's history. Two more appearance are slated: Thursday against Air Force and Feb. 24 against San Diego State.

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 are 9-3 at home this season and own an all-time record of 94-32 (.746) in the Mack, in the arena's 18th season of basketball. This will be the last season that the Lady Rebels play in the Mack with the new 3,300-seat Cox Pavilion set to open next year.

PACKING THE MACK: The voters aren't the only ones who have noticed the improved play out of the Lady Rebels. Against Wyoming on Feb. 3, a season-best 2,148 fans rolled in to watch UNLV as part of the school's "Pack the Mack" promotion. That marked the largest crowd to watch a Lady Rebel home game since 2,200 attended for the 1989-90 home finale against UC Santa Barbara. Only five times in school history has a crowd of more than 2,000 been recorded. For every ticket sold, UNLV donated $1 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas ... Some 1,277 turned out to watch UNLV host defending conference champ Utah on Jan. 11. In 12 home games this season, UNLV has averaged 883 fans per game. That is up more than 60 percent from last year, an average of 342 more fans per game. The Rebels have three more games scheduled at home before hosting the Mountain West Conference Tournament in March.

MAKING THE PASS: One reason that UNLV's offense has been so successful this season is that players are making the extra pass when necessary. The Lady Rebels rank second in the Mountain West Conference in assists this season, averaging 16.2 dishes per game, and 64 percent of their buckets have come off of a pass (341 assists on 531 field goals). Individually, Dayna Gambill leads the conference in assist/turnover ratio (2.00) and ranks second in total assists (100) and assists per game (5.0). Linda Fr?hlich also ranks among the league leaders, checking in at fifth with a 3.56 apg average and 12th with a 0.96 assist/turnover ratio.

FR?HLICH CLIMBS THE CHARTS: Linda Fr?hlich is steadily climbing the UNLV career lists for both scoring and rebounding. The junior forward entered the season with 1,261 career points and has added 315 this season for a total of 1,576, which ranks her fifth in school history. She surpassed Gwynn Hobbs and Donya Monroe with her 21 points at San Diego State. The All-American also has pulled down 739 rebounds in her career, which ranks seventh all-time. She passed Angalete Dye with her 14 rebounds at Utah.

MILESTONE ARENA: UNLV is making a habit of watching its players achieve milestones at San Diego's Cox Arena. Linda Fr?hlich topped the 1,500-point mark for her career in the Rebels win at SDSU on Jan. 27, reaching the milestone on the same floor where she tallied her 1,000th career point last season. She wasn't the only Rebel to notch a career mark as Kinesha Davis scored her 1,000th career point later in the first half. Davis registered most of that total as a freshman at Western Illinois in 1997-98, breaking the Mid-Continent Conference freshman scoring record with 504 points. They are the only active Rebels with at least 1,000 career points.

AWARDS ABUNDANT AT TOURNAMENTS: Not only did the Lady Rebels win their home tournament for the first time since the 1993-94 season, but they managed to walk away with all the hardware, too. Sophomore Constance Jinks was honored as the tourney's most valuable player after scoring 18 and 17 points in respective games. Freshman Petra Gl?ser and junior Kinesha Davis both earned all-tournament nods for their role in helping UNLV to the title. One week later, UNLV repeated by winning the Roger L. White Invitational in Evanston, Ill., and Jinks repeated by claiming MVP kudos after scoring a career-high 33 in the championship game. Junior Linda Fr?hlich was chosen as an all-tournament honoree.

TEAM OF THE WEEK?: The Mountain West Conference has honored the league's top player for each week 12 times this season, and in FOUR of those instances a Rebel has captured the award. After Constance Jinks captured back-to-back tournament MVPs, the 5-7 guard from Chicago was selected as the MWC Player of the Week on Dec. 4, becoming only the second Lady Rebel to earn the honor. One week later, freshman Petra Gl?ser added her name to the list, claiming the honor on Dec. 11. Gl?ser scored a career-high 21 against Arizona and followed that performance with a 8-for-9 shooting night from the floor against Eastern Washington. A scheduling break which allowed the Lady Rebels 10 days off to concentrate in final exams prevented a three-peat as UNLV did not play over that span. However, when the next award was announced on Jan. 3, it went to Linda Fr?hlich for her school-record setting performance against Pacific. Fr?hlich did not stop there, earning the award again on Jan. 29 after her third double-double of the year at SDSU. It was the fifth time in her career she was so honored. Colorado State and Utah have had three players honored, and no other team in the MWC boasts more than two Players of the Week.

MILLER REACHES CENTURY MARK IN WINS: UNLV head coach Regina Miller achieved a coveted career milestone in the Rebels' victory over Eastern Washington -- her 100th victory. Miller now has an overall record of 108-130 in her ninth season as a head coach, including a 60-100 mark compiled in six years at Western Illinois, and is 48-30 in her third season at UNLV.

ALL-UMLAUT TEAM: One statistic that the Lady Rebels are almost guaranteed to lead the country in this season is umlauts. An umlaut is a vowel sound caused by partial assimilation occurring in the following syllable and is indicated with a pair of dots over the vowel. After having just one umlaut in both of the last two seasons, the Lady Rebels are up to three on this year's roster: senior Viveca L?f, junior Linda Fr?hlich and freshman Petra Gl?ser.

IN THE TREES: Speaking of L?f and Gl?ser, the two overseas additions have helped UNLV to become the tallest team in the MWC. At 6-3 and 6-6 respectively, both are taller than any player on UNLV's 1999-00 roster. Throw in freshman Padra Strong, who stands 6-4, and the Rebels are no longer looking up at the rest of the league. UNLV boasts three of the MWC's 11 players that check in at 6-3 or taller, while only Gl?ser, Strong, Caroline Matthews of Utah and Morgan Vargas of San Diego State can reach the 6-4 mark.

AYE, AYE, CAP'N: Head coach Regina Miller has named Brooke Ingalls and Linda Fr?hlich as co-captains for the 2000-01 season. They rank first and second respectively in games played among active players.

SPORTS PROFESSIONALS: Two Lady Rebels are already working on the professional careers, although off of the basketball court. Seniors Brooke Ingalls and Marenna Nyffeler both serve as interns in the UNLV athletics department. In addition to helping promote their team behind the scenes, both players write a piece for unlvrebels.com, the Official Athletic Site for UNLV on the internet. Ingalls is an assistant in the UNLV Sports Information Office and contributes a weekly diary called the "NoteBrooke," available only on the web site. Nyffeler is beginning her second semester as an intern in the Sports Marketing Department and provides a one-on-one interview with a different teammate each week on the net. Both players plan to graduate in May with their degrees in communications.

FR?HLICH RETURNS FROM GERMANY: As one of the top players in her home country of Germany, Linda Fr?hlich was selected to the German National team and competed with the squad for 12 days in mid-November. Although she missed UNLV's first three games of the season, the Lady Rebels managed to escape unscathed. Meanwhile, Fr?hlich helped Germany to a 1-1 record at the qualifications for the European Championships. Germany defeated Romania by 28 points in Freiburg, Germany, and lost to Lithuania in Vilnius, Lithuania, by 12 points. To qualify, Germany needs Lithuania to defeat Romania, which would send Fr?hlich back to Europe to play for Germany at the European Championships in France in September of 2001.

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 OFF SEASON: Head coach Regina Miller collected some honors of her own this summer. In addition to a contract extension that will keep her on the Lady Rebels' bench through at least 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 who were trying out for the national team.