Women’s basketball: UNLV rallies past UCI, 71-52

Richard Dunn

BREN EVENTS CENTER - In its home opener Monday night, the UC Irvine

women’s basketball team started with as much color as the pageantry

inside the arena against the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

But the Runnin’ Rebels switched to a zone defense and rallied in the

first half as the visitors defeated the Anteaters, 71-52, in

nonconference action.

“They started zoning us and we started standing around,” said UCI

Coach Mark Adams, whose squad (1-1) built a nine-point lead in the first

eight minutes, only to see it evaporate quicker than you can say Linda

Frohlich or Constance Jinks.

Frohlich, the Rebels’ 6-foot-2 senior forward and two-time Mountain

West Conference Player of the Year who is being closely surveyed by WNBA

teams, scored 20 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, dished out eight assists

and made three steals as the Rebels ran away in the second half.

Jinks, a 5-7 junior point guard, matched Frohlich’s game-high honors

with 20 points, while adding seven assists, as UNLV (2-0) outscored the

‘Eaters, 20-4, to open the second half.

“They’re really good,” Adams said of the Rebels. “Constance Jinks can

score any time she wants and Linda Frohlich can score any time she wants.

Those two are scoring machines.”

UCI missed its first seven shots from the field in the second half and

finished the half shooting 30% (9 of 30) as UNLV turned a close game into

a rout.

“When you have players with the ability of Frohlich and Jinks, you’ve

got to let them shoot the ball,” said UNLV Coach Regina Miller, whose duo

combined to shoot 16 of 34 from the floor and 6 of 6 from the foul line.

UCI, led by forward Wendy Gabbe’s 11 points, enjoyed a 16-7 edge after

Gabbe nailed a three-pointer with 11:59 left in the first half.

But, following a UNLV timeout, the Rebels went on a 19-2 run and never

trailed again.

“We wanted to play man defense, because that’s our bread and butter,

and UCI has so many scorers,” Miller said. “But then we integrated our

zone early and stuck with it in the second half, because it worked. When

they figured it out, we went back to man to man.”

Frohlich, an All-American last year who averaged 19.4 points and 9.5

rebounds a game, sparked the Rebels’ 19-2 run in the first half with

seven points in that span, including a three-pointer and a sweet fallaway

jumper with the shot clock running out. She capped the spurt with a pass

inside to Dishawn McCracklin, who scored easily on a layup with 5:21 left

in the half to give UNLV a 26-18 lead.

“Frohlich, Jinks and (6-6) Petra Glaser are our main players, but you

didn’t really get to see Glaser perform tonight,” said Miller, who

believes her team is a strong candidate for the NCAA Tournament this

season.

After UNLV led at halftime, 34-28, it dominated the first 10 minutes

of the second half to take a 54-32 lead.

UCI staged a mild comeback as Gabbe sank two three-pointers and Lisa

Faulkner canned another with 5:39 left in the game to cut UNLV’s

advantage to 60-46.

But Jinks took over, scoring 10 points down the stretch as the Rebels,

who made 15 of 19 from the foul line, ended the Anteaters’ rally.