Nov. 30, 2002

UCLA 82, Northwestern State 74

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - Sophomore Sherry McCracklin (Hazel Crest, Ill.) registered a career-high 16 points and 14 rebounds to lead the UNLV women's basketball team past UTEP, 74-61, in the second game of the 2002 Lady Rebel Shootout held Saturday night at the Cox Pavilion.

McCracklin shot 50 percent from the field (4-of-8) and 8-of-11 from the free throw line to record only her second double-double performance of her career.

In the first four minutes of regulation, UTEP sprinted out to a 7-0 run on a pair of layups made by Dragana Zoric and a three-pointer by Kia Dowell. Senior Julia Gray (Riverside, Calif.) buried a leftside jumper at 14:53, to get UNLV on the board for the first time.

Senior All-America candidate Constance Jinks (Chicago, Ill.) later sunk back-to-back jump shots to narrow the gap to a one-point UTEP lead (7-6). With 6:16 remaining in the first half, the Lady Rebels claimed their first lead of the game on a two-point bucket by Gray, who ended the night with a season-high 11 points and seven assists.

Holding a 29-28 lead at halftime, UNLV never looked back after starting the second half on a 19-2 scoring run. Senior Talisha Mitchell (Stockton, Calif.) scored nine points in the 13-point victory, while freshman Nejlah Clark (Detroit, Mich.) contributed seven points off the bench.

Junior Vaida Zagurskyte scored a game-high 18 points for the Miners, which tied Jinks' game-high 18 points of the night. Despite its sluggish start in the first half of play, UNLV scored 30 points in the paint and 20 points off 17 turnovers committed by UTEP the entire game.

The Lady Rebels (3-0) will next meet UCLA (2-1) in the tournament championship game tomorrow at 4 p.m. (PST), while UTEP (1-2) and Northwestern State (1-1) face off in the consolation game at 1:30 p.m. UCLA defeated Northwestern State, 82-74, to move on to Sunday's championship game.