March 4, 2002

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THIS WEEK
Mountain West Conference Tournament
vs. No. 5 seed Utah * March 6 at 8:30 p.m.

LOOKING AHEAD
Receiving its highest ever seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the fourth-seeded UNLV women's basketball team looks to rebound from two regular season ending losses this week as the Lady Rebels face fifth-seeded Utah on Wednesday, March 6 at 8:30 p.m. in the Thomas & Mack Center. With an NCAA Tournament bid on the line, the Lady Rebels will have to advance in the tournament to have a shot at an at-large consideration or win out to gain the league's automatic bid. All tournament games will be broadcast locally on KENO 1460 AM radio and via an Internet broadcast link on unlvrebels.com. The game will also be broadcast on television by Sportswest on Las Vegas One (tape delay) at 10 p.m.

IN THE MWC TOURNEY
Since the inaugural tournament in 2000, the Lady Rebels hold a 1-2 record in post-season conference play. Last season, UNLV dropped to BYU in the first round with a 62-54 loss. In the 2000 tourney, the Lady Rebels advanced past the first round defeating New Mexico by two-points, 52-50, and later fell to Utah on a last second three-pointer by Tiana Fuerte, 67-65. Both games played in 2000 came down to last second shots.

SCOUTING REPORT

Utah (15-11): The Utes are on a two-game winining streak after taking wins over San Diego State, 47-45, on Feb. 28 and UNLV, 69-65, on March 2. Senior Lindsay Herbert leads the team in scoring with 14.7 ppg, while fellow senior Lauren Beckman is averaging a team-leading 8.1 rpg. Utah hopes to have Erin Gibbons back in the lineup as she recovers from the flu and a broken nose suffered in one-minute of action against UNLV last week. After making it to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 2001, they will look to gain a post-season berth for the second year in a row.

SERIES HISTORY
The last time out, Utah won on a last second three-pointer by Lindsey Herbert to split the regular season series with UNLV. Prior to that win, UNLV defeated Utah at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City for the first time since the 1975-76 season on Jan. 31. 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). Utah leads the all-time series at 12-9 and 1-0 in MWC tournament competition.

FR?HLICH REACHES MORE MILESTONES
Senior All-America candidate Linda Fr?hlich became the first Lady Rebel in school history to reach 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. Fr?hlich reached the 2,000 point (2,300 points to-date) and 1,000 rebound plateau (1,082 rebounds to-date) after scoring a game-high 25 points and six rebounds against Wyoming on Jan. 17. Fr?hlich needs to grab 13 more boards to surpass two-time All-American Pauline Jordan's (1987-90) all-time school record of 1,094 career rebounds.

LADY REBEL CAREER REBOUNDING LEADERS

                        Games   Reb.    Avg.

1. Pauline Jordan (1987-90) 98 1,094 11.2 2. Linda Fr?hlich (1998-Present) 107 1,082 10.1 3. Angela Christian (1983-87) 123 926 7.5 4. Kathie Calloway (1978-82) 120 922 7.7 5. Geannine Jordan (1986-90) 126 827 6.6 6. Misty Thomas (1982-86) 114 790 6.9 7. Angalete Dye (1995-99) 103 730 7.1 8. Teresa Jackson (1989-93) 120 695 5.8 9. Merlelynn Lange (1988-92) 111 688 6.2 10. Janice Fuller (1975-77) 41 513 12.5

LADY REBELS ON THE AIR
The 2001/02 season marks the 18th year and 15th consecutive season that Lady Rebel basketball games will be broadcast over the radio waves. It will also be the third year for all of the women's basketball schedule to be heard over the Internet and throughout the world on www.unlvrebels.com. Bob Blum, the dean of West Coast broadcasters, begins his 15th season calling play-by-play for Lady Rebel Basketball on KENO 1460 AM. Joining him for her fifth season on air will be former Lady Rebel Cheryl Kosewicz along with David Wall for post-season coverage. Blum will host the Regina Miller Show 10-minutes prior to the tip-off for each game.

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT BRACKET
The 2002 EAS Mountain West Conference Championships will be held on March 6-9 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. Three of the league's top teams could possibly make the NCAA Tournament with the results from this week's tournament.

Wednesday, March 6Noon            Game No. 1 / No. 2 New Mexico vs. No. 7 San Diego State2:30 p.m.   Game No. 2 / No. 3 BYU vs. No. 6 Wyoming6 p.m.          Game No. 3 / No. 1 Colorado State vs. No. 8 Air Force8:30 p.m.   Game No. 4 / No. 4 UNLV vs. No. 5 Utah

Friday, March 8Noon            Women's Semifinal Game No. 52:30 p.m.   Women's Semifinal Game No. 6

Saturday, March 93:30 p.m.   Women's Championship Game*

* Winner receives conference's automatic bid to NCAA Tournament