Feb. 27, 2002
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THIS WEEK
vs. Brigham Young * Feb. 28 at 5 p.m.
vs. Utah * March 2 at 3:30 p.m.
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
The regular season is coming to an end as the UNLV women's basketball team hosts BYU on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. and Utah on Saturday, March 2 at 3:30 p.m. for the last two games prior to post-season conference tournament play on March 6-9. Anything can happen this week with the Lady Rebels tied for second-place with New Mexico in the current league standings and Colorado State still leading the pack. UNLV inches closer to top 25 recognition receiving votes in both major polls, which puts the Lady Rebels at No. 26/27 respectively. Both games will be broadcast locally on KENO 1460 AM radio and via an Internet broadcast link on unlvrebels.com.
SENIOR TRIBUTE
Four seniors will play in their last home game of the season on Saturday, March 2. Kinesha Davis, Linda Fr?hlich, Erin Johansson and Courtney Swanson will be honored before tip-off at 3:30 p.m. As members of UNLV coach Regina Miller's first recruiting class in 1998, all four players have witnessed and been apart of four consecutive winning seasons over .500 for a total of 74 victories to-date. In the four years prior to their arrival on campus, UNLV had won only 23 games total with just three consecutive four-win seasons.
PIZZA, PIZZA!
Little Caesar's Pizza will be giving away ticket vouchers at participating stores for admission into the Lady Rebels last home game versus Utah on Saturday, March 2 at 3:30 p.m. in the Thomas & Mack Center. Fans who attend will be eligible for lucky seat promotions for free pizza certificates throughout the game. The Little Caesar's mascot will also be on hand to greet fans.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Brigham Young (17-8): The Cougars are fresh off a regular season series sweep of instate rival Utah and once again look to break out the broom at UNLV this week. In Provo on Feb. 23, BYU handed Utah a 62-53 loss to get back on pace after New Mexico took a 71-64 victory at the Marriott Center on Feb. 16. Junior Erin Thorn, the conference's third leading scorer, leads the team with 17.0 ppg, while teammate Jennifer Leitner takes care of the boards averaging 8.5 rpg. The Cougars continue to hold one of the best 3-point shooting percentages (.410) in the nation.
Utah (13-11): A three-game winning streak was snapped last week as instate rival BYU defeated the Utes, 62-53, on Feb. 23. Utah, a team picked to finish second in the conference preseason poll after advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 last season, could play spoiler this weekend. Three players (Erin Gibbons, Lauren Beckman and Lindsay Herbert) are averaging double digits in scoring with a team leading 14.1 ppg. Although the Utes are 6-6 in conference play, they will look to defend their MWC championship title by trying to pull out a pair of wins this week against San Diego State and UNLV for the best seeding placement in the upcoming tournament.
SERIES HISTORY
The last time out, UNLV defeated Utah at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City for the first time since the 1975-76 season. The Lady Rebels also captured their first Mountain West Conference victory over the Utes, which broke a string of seven consecutive losses to Utah (regular season and post-season tournament combined). The win on Jan. 31, put UNLV closer in the all-time series record at 11-9. In the BYU vs. UNLV series, the Cougars lead 11-5 after downing the Lady Rebels, 72-61, on Feb. 2.
GIVE ME 20
In the 28-year history of the program, the Lady Rebels have recorded 20+ win seasons on 16 occasions: 1975-76 (26-5), 1977-78 (23-2), 1978-79 (24-4), 1979-80 (22-8), 1982-83 (24-4), 1983-84 (24-7), 1984-85 (26-5), 1985-86 (22-9), 1986-87 (21-9), 1987-88 (25-9), 1988-89 (27-7), 1989-90 (28-3), 1990-91 (25-7), 1992-93 (24-7), 1993-94 (23-7) and 2001-02 (21-4 to-date). UNLV has also produced seven seasons with less than five losses.
MWC SEEDING BRACKET ANNOUNCEMENTS
The seedings and brackets for the 2002 EAS Mountain West Conference Championships on March 6-9 will be released on Saturday, March 2 after the BYU vs. San Diego State game slated for an 8:30 p.m. start.
Wednesday, March 6
Noon Women's Quarterfinal Game No. 1
2:30 p.m. Women's Quarterfinal Game No. 2
6 p.m. Women's Quarterfinal Game No. 3
8:30 p.m. Women's Quarterfinal Game No. 4
Friday, March 8
Noon Women's Semifinal Game No. 5
2:30 p.m. Women's Semifinal Game No. 6
Saturday, March 9
3:30 p.m. Women's Championship Game*
* Winner receives conference's automatic bid to NCAA Tournament
HOME SWEET HOME
The Lady Rebels have posted a 7-0 record at the Cox Pavilion, their new home arena in 2001/02. Last season, UNLV tabulated a 12-4 record at home in the Thomas & Mack Center. They are currently 13-0 at home (Cox Pavilion and TMC combined). The Lady Rebels also have the third best home attendance figures in the Mountain West Conference averaging 1,866 fans per game.
