The Lady Rebels (11-19, 4-12) will face No. 5 seed Utah (14-16, 7-9 MWC) in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday at 4:30 pm, after finishing the regular season with a 51-47 home victory over the Utes on March 5. The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to Wednesday and a quarterfinal matchup against the winner of the No. 4 Colorado State-No. 9 Air Force contest. The two quarterfinals games on Wednesday and the two semifinal contests on Friday will be broadcast by The Mtn., while Saturday's championship game is on Versus. All six games of the MWC Women's Championship that are being broadcast will be available in high definition.
This will be the fifth meeting all-time in MWC Tournament play between UNLV and the Utes. Utah has won three of the four previous meetings, beginning with a 67-65 win in the semifinals of the 2000 tournament. The Utes also posted semifinal victories over UNLV in 2004 (59-55) and 2006 (61-45), while the Lady Rebels knocked off the Utes 57-38 in the 2002 quarterfinals.
UNLV is 1-2 all-time in the first round of the tournament, which it has played in the previous three years. The Lady Rebels are 6-5 in their first game of the tournament, which for the first eight years of the conference was their quarterfinal contest. UNLV is 5-9 all-time as the lower seed in the MWC Tournament, and 0-1 as the eighth seed, falling to ninth seed Colorado State in the 2008 first round. This also marks UNLV's third all-time game against the fifth-seed in the MWC Tournament. Both times before the Lady Rebels were the fourth seed, with a win over the Utes in 2002, and a last-second two-point overtime loss to BYU in the 2003 quarterfinals.
Third-year head coach Kathy Olivier is 2-2 all-time with UNLV in the MWC Tournament, while the Lady Rebels have an 8-11 (.421) tournament record, which ranks fifth among league members. UNLV has advanced to the championship game once (2002), and has six semifinal appearances in the 11-year history of the league.
The quarterfinals will take place on Wednesday, March 9 (4:30 and 7 pm), the semifinals on Friday, March 11 (12 and 2:30 pm) with the championship slated for Saturday, March 12 at 1 pm. The winner of the tournament will receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
All-session and single-session tickets for the 2011 Conoco Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Championship are now on sale at the Thomas & Mack Center box office, online at UNLVTickets.com or by calling 702-739-FANS. The Thomas & Mack Center box office will be open Monday, March 7 at 10 am.
2011 CONOCO MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Tuesday, March 8 (First Round)
2 pm, No. 4 Colorado State vs. No. 9 Air Force
4:30 pm, No. 5 Utah vs. No. 8 UNLV
7 pm, No. 6 San Diego State vs. No. 7 New MexicoWednesday, March 9 (Quarterfinals)
4:30 pm, First Round #1 and #2 winners, The Mtn. HD
7 pm, First Round #3 winner vs. No. 3 Wyoming, The Mtn. HD
Friday, March 11 (Semifinals)
12 pm, Quarterfinal #1 winner vs. #1 BYU, The Mtn. HD
2:30 pm, Quarterfinal #2 winner vs. #2 TCU, The Mtn. HD
Saturday, March 12 (Championship)
