Lady Rebels look for better ending in Mountain West Tournament

UNLV had come off the high of winning a share of the Mountain West women’s regular-season championship four days earlier and earning the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

That joy was quickly replaced by frustration in losing 77-73 in double overtime to seventh-seeded and rival UNR in the league tourney to end the Lady Rebels’ hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.

Now the spotlight isn’t so bright on the Lady Rebels (12-17, 10-8 MW), who are the fifth seed in this year’s conference tournament, which begins Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center. They play fourth-seeded Fresno State (18-11, 11-7) at 2:30 p.m. Monday in the quarterfinals.

“I think going in as a favorite, you have tons of pressure,” UNLV point guard Nikki Wheatley said. “I think this year the team still expects to be a really good team. We may not be the absolute favorite. It makes it more fun, to be honest. I don’t think people expect us to win it, but I think we really can.”

UNLV has reasons to be optimistic.

The Lady Rebels have won three of their past four games, and Fresno State has lost three of four, with all the defeats to teams seeded seventh and lower.

But the Bulldogs won the only meeting against UNLV, 73-55 in Fresno, California.

“It’s nice to have a bye the first round,” Lady Rebels coach Kathy Olivier said. “A very talented (Fresno State) team. It’s great for us to have that extra day of rest. Hopefully, the fans come out and we really finish strong, because that’s been our motto all year, to finish strong.”

UNLV shouldn’t be short on motivation, knowing the missed opportunity last season of making its first NCAA Tournament since 2002. And that UNR was responsible for it.

“I really felt like we did give it our all, but we didn’t get the result that we wanted,” Wheatley said. “It’s one of those things knowing from last year, especially the players that played last year, that it’s one and done. You’ve got to give it all you can, and that can be your last time on the court.”

How the loss came also made matters worse for UNLV, which got one point from its bench, a free throw by Kennedy Wharton. The Lady Rebels’ bench has outscored opponents’ reserves by an average of 22.1-18.4 this season, so from a tactical standpoint, they should be better prepared.

They’re also mostly healthy and out of the spotlight. That glare belongs to top-seeded Boise State (25-4, 16-2), New Mexico (24-5, 14-4) and Wyoming (20-7, 13-5).

It’s a different scenario from last season when UNLV appeared to carry momentum of a 68-58 victory over Utah State to win a piece of its first conference title since 1994 only to face disappointment four days later.

Last year’s tournament “definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth and everybody else’s mouth,” forward/center Paris Strawther said. “So we’ve got to come out and show people what we’re made of.”

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Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.