Feb. 18, 2006
Box Score
LAS VEGAS - UNLV held Colorado State without a field goal for the first nine minutes of the game, opening up a 19-2 lead, and Sherry McCracklin made a successful return to the court with 15 points to lead the Lady Rebels to the 600th win in school history, 74-57, in Mountain West Conference women's basketball action on Saturday night from the Cox Pavilion. UNLV won its second straight to improve to 15-8 on the year, 7-5 in league play, while the Rams dropped to 8-15 overall, 2-10 in the MWC.
The Lady Rebels, who scored the first 14 points of the game and placed four in double figures, now own a 600-308 all-time record in the 31-year history of the program at UNLV, and became the 39th school in NCAA history to reach 600 program wins. The win was also Regina Miller's 150th as the head coach of the Lady Rebels in her eight years at the school
McCracklin did not start, but entered the game with UNLV up 4-0, and made an immediate impact, with four points, three rebounds, and a steal in her first three minutes of action. McCracklin was playing for the first time since Feb. 4, when she left the game late at Wyoming after suffering a concussion, and had missed the Lady Rebels' last two games since. Her jumper with 11:11 to go in the first half gave UNLV a 19-2 edge. The Rams scored four straight to close with 13, but a seven unanswered points from UNLV pushed the edge back to 26-6. CSU made another 6-0 near the end of the half, and then allowed Sheena Moore to bury a trey at the buzzer to send the Lady Rebels into halftime up 38-21.
CSU cut the edge to 13, 42-29 with 15:42 left on a Cassie Shepherd jumper. The Lady Rebels then put the game away with a 21-6 spurt over the next six minutes. Six different players scored for UNLV during the run, capped by five straight points from Kisha Lee, with her jumper at 7:53 making the score 63-35 before the Lady Rebels started to clear the bench.
McCracklin finished 5-of-11 from the floor and added six rebounds and four steals in 24 minutes of action. Joining her in double figures off the bench was Kisha Lee with 14 and seven rebounds, while Moore added 13 and Sequoia Holmes posted 11. UNLV shot 41.8% for the game, was 7-of-18 from three-point range, and made 11-of-14 at the line. The Lady Rebels also held a 42-31 edge on the boards, and turned the ball over just 14 times.
Melissa Dennett paced CSU with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Lindsay Thomas and Shepherd both posted 10 each. The Rams shot 42.6% for the game, but were just 3-of-11 (27.3%) from behind the arc, and turned the ball over 18 times.
UNLV returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at No. 25 Utah at 6 pm (PST) in Salt Lake City.
