March 7, 2001

LAS VEGAS - BYU's Stacy Jensen drained a three-pointer from the top of the key with 57 seconds remaining to give the Cougars a 60-54 lead and seal a 62-54 victory over UNLV's women's basketball team in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament on Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Lady Rebels (18-9), who had the lead for most of the second half, pulled within three just before Jensen's shot. Linda Fr?hlich was fouled making a layup, and hit the extra free throw to make the score 57-54 with 1:23 to play.

BYU (17-11) earned its victory at the line and on the glass. UNLV was whistled for 15 fouls in the second half, allowing the Cougars to make 27 trips to the stripe. They connected on 14 and went 18-for-31 from the line for the game. UNLV made most of its free throw opportunities, but didn't get enough of them, going 12-of-14.

The Cougars also outrebounded the Rebels, 40-31, and ripped down 14 offensive rebounds for 11 second-chance points.

"I thought tonight BYU went on a series where they got five or six offensive rebounds, and that really hurt us," UNLV head coach Regina Miller said. "And they hit a couple of big shots down the stretch."

Fr?hlich led all scorers with 20 points, and Constance Jinks added 12. BYU was led by Erin Thorn's 13, Julie Leitner's 12 and Chanell Rose's 10. Jensen finished with nine.

BYU advances to the semifinals where it will face the winner of Wednesday night's Utah-Air Force clash on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The Rebels must patiently await the announcements of the NCAA Tournament and WNIT fields on Sunday for a potential postseason berth.

"Hopefully we will continue to play in March," Miller added. "Hopefully someone will look at what we've done up to this point and give us a look (for the WNIT)."