LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) — For the first time in 29 years, UNLV has a ranked women's basketball team.

The Lady Rebels jumped into the Associated Press Women's Basketball Top 25 at No. 23 in today's release. It's the first time UNLV has been ranked since the Jan. 18, 1994, poll and the program's highest ranking since March 9, 1993.

"Obviously it means a lot. When I took the job I had a vision of what this place could be and what it once was," UNLV Head Coach and Las Vegas-native Lindy La Rocque said to the Associated Press. "That's what I remember and I'm trying to put the pieces together to make that come to fruition. This is one of the small milestones that gives you a little bit of joy and lets you know that you're doing some things right."

It's also the first time a Mountain West Conference team has been ranked since Colorado State finished the 2016 season ranked 22nd.

UNLV is 24-2 overall, its best record since finishing 28-3 in 1989-90, and an undefeated 14-0 in conference play heading into its final four regular-season games.

The target on the backs of the Lady Rebels now narrows to a bulls-eye. UNLV received at least one vote in the poll for the past three weeks, but a wild finish against Fresno State and a dominant second-half surge at Boise State meant the Lady Rebels could no longer be denied.

The Lady Rebels appeared in 115 AP Top 25 Polls between 1977 and 1994, rising as high as No. 2 for two weeks in February 1990.

UNLV hosts San Jose State at the Thomas & Mack Center Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6:30 p.m. With a win, the Lady Rebels will take the outright claim to the Mountain West Conference regular-season championship outright