Feb. 16, 2002
Box Score
LAS VEGAS - It's been a long time coming. A 20-win season was claimed by the UNLV women's basketball team as the Lady Rebels stuffed league rival Wyoming with a 66-61 victory Saturday night in the Thomas & Mack Center.
The game would come down to the wire. With 23 seconds left in regulation and the Lady Rebels up 62-61, junior Julia Gray (Riverside, Calif.) would be fouled by the Cowgirls' Carly Stucky, who had just sunk her seventh 3-pointer of the night on the previous play.
Gray made both free throws to stretch the lead to three. As Wyoming inbounded the ball, UNLV's speedy guard would commit her third foul of the night which allowed the Cowgirls another chance to setup. Gray did not give up on defense, in return, forcing a Wyoming turnover and completing a game-winning layup on the fastbreak, for a season-high 16 points and three steals.
Three UNLV players, along with Gray, scored in double figures. Senior All-America candidate Linda Fr?hlich (Oldendorf, Germany) made her first appearance back to the team being withheld the last two games by the University, while the NCAA reviewed her amateur eligibility status. Fr?hlich turned in a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds in her return.
It was all McCracklin in the opening minutes of the game. Sisters Dishawn and Sherry McCracklin (Hazel Crest, Ill.) contributed for 14 of the team's 37 points in the first half. Sherry, a freshman and the younger of the two, led all scorers at halftime with a career-high 10 points. She would go down with a sprained ankle, but came back to play for six minutes in the second.
Junior Constance Jinks (Chicago, Ill.) added 10 points and three steals, while senior Kinesha Davis (Brooklyn Center, Minn.) came off the bench to contribute six points, one a two-point basket which closed the book on Wyoming with 2:11 remaining. In the loss, the Cowgirls drop to 11-12 overall, 4-7 MWC.
The third largest home crowd of the season turned out for the game in droves, 3,010 to be exact. They witnessed the Lady Rebels' 13th consecutive win at home, a record which remains untouched.
UNLV last captured a 20-win season back in the 1993-94 season, when the Lady Rebels advanced to the NCAA Tournament under former head coach Jim Bolla finishing with a 23-7 overall record.
The Lady Rebels (20-4, 8-3 MWC) complete their final road trip of the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 23 against Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. The game will start at 4 p.m. (PST) and will be broadcast live on KENO 1460 AM radio and via an Internet link on unlvrebels.com.
THEY GOT MAD GAME: A rebroadcast of UNLV's upset of 15th-ranked Colorado State on Feb. 14 will be aired on KTUD / UPN Channel 25, Cable 14 on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. The Lady Rebels' 20th victory of the season against Wyoming will be rebroadcast on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 2 p.m.
