Lady Rebels fall hard to Rams

Shamela Hampton talked about how much she wanted to play another season under UNLV women's basketball coach Regina Miller, and Sequoia Holmes attributed her maturity to Miller's guidance.

On the Thomas & Mack Center court Tuesday, though, Miller's players failed to make a strong case to bring their coach back for another season.

The Lady Rebels fell apart over the final seven minutes, losing 68-49 in the play-in game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament to Colorado State, which didn't win a conference game during the regular season.

"I'm really upset that the season has to end this way," said Hampton, who scored 16 points and was the only Lady Rebel in double figures. "But it was on us."

UNLV finished 8-22, its lowest victory total since going 4-23 in 1997-98, the season before Miller took over. The Lady Rebels also ended the season with six consecutive losses -- five by double digits -- and 13 defeats in the last 15 games.

That skid put them in the play-in game against a Colorado State team that lost all 16 regular-season conference games and was on a 20-game overall slide. Next, the ninth-seeded Rams (3-27) face top-seeded and 12th-ranked Utah (27-3) at 4 p.m. today.

The Lady Rebels went ahead 44-43 on guard Dominique Harris' 3-pointer with 7:31 left. Then Colorado State guard Sara Hunter made the first of consecutive 3-pointers with 7:01 left to ignite a 25-5 closing run.

"Yeah, it was a 19-point loss," Miller said, "but obviously it was closer than that."

Such a loss doesn't bode well for Miller, who has a year left on her contract and has operated under a cloud of speculation about her future. After winning records her first eight years, her teams have posted back-to-back losing seasons. UNLV went 14-15 last season.

"This is our first tough year," Miller said. "All I can do is stay focused on helping this program reach its goals. I enjoy coaching at UNLV, and I plan to be the coach here in years to come."

Hampton, the Lady Rebels' junior center, said she at least wanted Miller back for her final season.

"She never gave up on us," Hampton said. "She never quit on us."

Holmes said Miller meant at least as much off the court to her as on it.

"I've really grown playing in this program and understand her tutelage," Holmes said. "I just think that she has shown that basketball relates to life, and personally, life is more important than basketball."

Tuesday night was Holmes' final game for UNLV. The senior forward from Mojave High School led the Mountain West with 18.7 points per game, but she struggled against the Rams, hitting 3 of 15 shots and scoring seven points.

Colorado State coach Jen Warden made a defensive change with 16 minutes left. The Rams tried a box-and-one in a previous meeting, but this time went with more of a diamond defense with a defender patrolling the baseline.

"So even though we didn't match Sequoia player for player and face guard her, so to speak, everyone whose area she was in was well-prepared and coming from an inside-out stance to guard her," Warden said. "So we weren't giving her a first step to the rim when we closed out."

Holmes wasn't the only UNLV player out of sync. The Lady Rebels made just 28.3 percent of their shots.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2914.