March 10, 2006

DENVER, Colo. -

MWC Tournament Semifinal notes vs. Utah
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For the second time in three years, UNLV and Utah are meeting in the MWC semifinals, as the sixth-seeded Lady Rebels and the second-seeded No. 19 Utes meet at 11 am (MST) on Friday. The last time the two teams met, third-seed UNLV held a 30-24 halftime lead, but No. 2 seed Utah rallied in the second half to claim a 59-55 win in the 2004 tournament. The game will be broadcast by CSTV, and will also be available on both UNLVRebels.com and TheMWC.com.

The Lady Rebels reached Friday's semifinals after posting a 57-45 upset over 21st-ranked New Mexico on Wednesday, which avenged a loss to New Mexico in the 2005 semifinals. Now UNLV gets a chance to avenge the 2004 semifinal loss with their matchup with Utah.

UNLV also gets a chance to post a win over a ranked team for the third time this season, which would be the most in Regina Miller's eight years at UNLV. The Lady Rebels have two wins over New Mexico this season while they were ranked, both times ranked 21st. In all, UNLV has just five wins over ranked teams in the last 12 years, once in 1994 over No. 21 Hawaii, twice in 2002 over Colorado State, once when the Rams were 15th on a Valentine Day's contest in Las Vegas, and again in Las Vegas in the semifinals of the MWC Championships when UNLV upset the top-seeded and 18th-ranked CSU squad to make its only MWC Championship game appearance.

UNLV has a 6-6 all-time record in the MWC Tournament, are are 1-2 against the Utes. Utah meanwhile is 10-5 in the conference tournament.