LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) -
By W.G. Ramirez
Special to UNLVRebels.com

Five players from the UNLV Lady Rebels' nine-woman active roster have stepped on the court against Nevada, Reno.

But that doesn't mean the importance of beating the in-state rival is lost among the newcomers to Rebel basketball.

UNLV, which leads the all-time series against UNR, 31-7, will host the Wolf Pack at 3 p.m. in the Cox Pavilion on Saturday. And everyone on the team can't wait for tip-off.

"Reno steps their game up, we step our game up and this also adds to the Governor's Series, which UNLV hasn't lost and we would like to continue winning that," sophomore guard Brooke Johnson said. "We do not like Reno, and they do not like us."

The Lady Rebels have never lost to UNR in the Cox Pavilion, going 16-0. And in coach Kathy Olivier's eight seasons at the helm, she's 9-1 with the lone loss coming last season, in Reno. "Our team will be fired up," Olivier said. "It's a rivalry that holds bragging rights in the state of Nevada and even though we only have two locals on the (roster), everyone on this team understands what this is about.

"The football team talks about the Fremont Cannon, and they won that this year. Men's basketball and women's basketball - it's a big deal. All the sports, we all want to beat Reno."

And Olivier has done a good job of impressing that upon her players since 2007, as her teams have beaten the Wolf Pack by double digits in seven of the nine victories. This season she approaches the first of two meetings with UNR with the youngest squad she's had, but even her newcomers understand the concept of this rivalry.

"I may be a freshman but I know from my teammates that they do not like them," said Destiney Lee.

Said fellow freshman Jordyn Bell: "It's exciting. We always want to beat UNR. All sports get competitive just because it's UNR."

Paris Strawther, also a freshman, knows first-hand about the rivalry, given she was born and raised in Nevada and starred for Southern Nevada powerhouse Liberty High School. Along with annual battles against other local powers Centennial and Bishop Gorman, Strawther also shared epic battles with northern prep powers Reno and Bishop Manogue.

"It's a rival, so we have to play even harder in that game, all the time," Strawther said. "You already know that for every sport in our school, we don't like Reno."

Seniors Amie Callaway and Aley Rohde have faced the Wolf Pack the most on the UNLV roster, with Callaway playing six times and starting twice, while Rohde has played UNR four times and started three times.

"It's who, that annoying team from the north," joked Callaway. "It's always a great rivalry, it's always one of my favorite games to play and this is the rivalry. Nobody has a rivalry with us like Reno."

Rohde, who has missed the past five games with an ankle injury, has been cleared for Saturday's game and is very excited to return to the lineup, knowing what the rivalry represents.

"It's the whole university representing the whole school," Rohde said. "And you don't want to be a team that doesn't get the points for Governor's Series."

The historic competition series features a head-to-head athletic and academic challenge between the rivals. The all-encompassing competition annually crowns the winner of the Governor's Series.

Along with Johnson, two other sophomores have also squared up against UNR in their careers: Alyssa Anderson and Nikki Wheatley. Johnson and Wheatley each played twice and started once, while Anderson has appeared in one game.

"This is the big rivalry game: the North vs. South," Anderson said. "And it's a lot of pride for this school, definitely. It's real exciting because the student body gets behind us and everyone comes together."

Sophomore twins Dakota and Dylan Gonzalez, who transferred from Kansas and redshirted last season, appeared on KLUC's The Morning Zoo radio program to hype the game and entice locals to pack the Cox Pavilion for what has been prescribed as a "Red Out" game.

"I know this is going to be a game with a lot of high, high intensity," Dakota Gonzalez said. "This is going to be a game with a lot of energy, a lot of runs and I think at the end of the day whoever outworks the other is going to come out on top."

Said Wheatley: "That's been our motto for this year: 'outwork the other team.' We're going to outwork teams. When it comes to Reno, it means that much more. Last year we lost to them once, and we don't want to be that team that loses to them."

Olivier ranks third all-time at the school for winning percentage against the Wolf Pack. Former Lady Rebels coach Jim Bolla went 10-0 (1.000 percent) against UNR from 1982-1994, while Hall of Fame legend Jerry Tarkanian was 23-2 (.920) against the Wolf Pack.

"They play extremely hard, they're in every game and it's going to be a 40-minute battle," Olivier said. "Our athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy talks about it that that's a game we want to win. We're going to do everything we can and in our power to be fired up and ready to go."

Said Johnson: "We do not like Reno, and they do not like us."

WHAT ELSE ARE THE LADY REBELS SAYING ABOUT THE BATTLE BORN RIVALRY:

Jazmin O'Bannon: "I think of a great game, I think of competition and I think of a win."

Brooke Johnson: "It's very important. It says a lot about numerous things. It says a lot about our team, everyone stepping up on both ends, offense and defense."

Dakota Gonzalez: "We talk about Reno here, more than we ever talked about beating K-State or Oklahoma at Kansas. I've come to learn that that means this is a rival game in that there's no mercy, this is the team you let everything go."

Aley Rohde: "It's always a statement game, it's the Governor's Cup. It's not even just about basketball."

Diamond Major: "It means everything. Win or lose, go hard. It's what we base our season on probably. This game is everything to me, to our team, to our school."

Dylan Gonzalez: "It's something serious. Most time people just say 'the school up north' so I just figure that must mean that it's a real serious rivalry if you can't even say Reno."