Box Score
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - It's still a season to remember as the 12th-seeded UNLV women's basketball team's date with destiny ended short with a 71-54 loss to fifth-seeded Minnesota in the first round of the 2002 NCAA Tournament Saturday night at Carmichael Auditorium on the campus of host and fourth-seeded North Carolina.
The Golden Gophers controlled the game from the get-go with their aggressive and physical play. Minnesota sophomore Lindsay Whalen added to that threat. The third-team AP All-American and Big Ten Conference Player of the Year, scored 12 of her game-high 29 points in just the first half alone.
Combined with Minnesota's 45 percent shooting from the field, 4-of-6 completion from behind the 3-point arc and 11-of-16 makes from the free throw line, they would avenge a previous loss to UNLV in 1998 in the finals of the Golden Gopher Classic.
"Our team of seniors have never had a losing season. Minnesota is coming off a losing season and I think it was their hunger factor," UNLV coach Regina Miller said. "I think we were hungry, but sometimes team plateau. We are not Minnesota, but we are trying to get to that next level. We felt the job we did this season was good enough to be one of the top 64 teams in the country. I think our mentality is really beyond that plateau."
For UNLV, freshman Sherry McCracklin (Hazel Crest, Ill.) led all Lady Rebels with a career-high 11 points. McCracklin came off the bench to notch her first career double-double, adding 12 rebounds. She scored four points in an 8-0 run in a 2:43 span midway through the second half as UNLV rallied within 45-32 with 12:45 left.
"We played at their pace and even though we made runs, we were still on their pace because they ran back on us," said junior Constance Jinks (Chicago, Ill.), who had 10 points in the loss. "We had the momentum, but we couldn't keep it going in our favor. It was all Minnesota."
Senior Linda Fr?hlich (Oldendorf, Germany), also a third-team AP All-American and Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, ended her storied UNLV playing career with nine points and seven rebounds. She leaves behind a legacy in both the men's and women's basketball record books as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,355 career points and women's all-time rebounding leader with 1,124 career rebounds.
The Lady Rebels scored eight straight points to close within 45-32, but never got closer. UNLV shot 25-for-70 shots from the field and was outrebounded 45-39.
UNLV finishes the season at 23-8 overall (.742), the 13th best season in Lady Rebel history behind the 1994 squad, who advanced to the postseason tournament and completed the year at 23-7 overall (.767). No. 18 nationally ranked Minnesota (22-7) advances to the second round of the NCAA tourney to meet North Carolina, who defeated 13th-seeded Harvard, 85-58.
