Lady Rebels picked as Mountain West preseason favorites

UNLV women’s basketball coach Lindy La Rocque wasn’t surprised to see her team picked as the Mountain West preseason favorite Wednesday.

The Lady Rebels return four starters and nine players from last year’s team that won the Mountain West and made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.

But La Rocque and the rest of the Lady Rebels won’t dwell on preseason accolades very long. Entering her third season, La Rocque’s goal is for UNLV to win at a higher level.

“We have a majority of our team returning, and they’re not satisfied,” La Rocque said at Mountain West media days on Wednesday. “We want to take it further into the NCAA Tournament and play better.”

UNLV received 26 of 28 first place votes in the Mountain West preseason poll, with New Mexico picking up the other two votes.

In her short time at UNLV, La Rocque has turned the Lady Rebels into the top team in the conference. After being picked to finish ninth in her first season (2020-21), UNLV finished second.

And last season the Lady Rebels went 26-7 and won their first outright conference championship since 1989-90 in the Big West. The tournament title was their first since 1994.

This season La Rocque knows the Lady Rebels will have a target on their backs. While she expects to make adjustments throughout the season, La Rocque said she believes her team has a leg up on their competition from making a conference championship run last season.

“Our advantage is that we have great experience,” La Rocque said. “We have players that have played a lot of minutes and they’ve been in close games. … We’re going to need everyone to draw on that experience.”

Much of that experience stems from the performance of UNLV’s top two leading scorers last year, who also earned preseason recognition Wednesday.

Junior forward Desi-Rae Young (15.2 points per game) was picked as the preseason player of the year, and Young and senior guard Essence Booker (15.5 ppg) were picked to the preseason all-conference team.

Booker and Young shared their coach’s sentiments that what happens in the preseason won’t “win them any games,” and that they’ll be judged at the end of the season.

“With the preseason rankings and what we did last year, the work to get there could get overlooked,” Booker said. “We still have a lot to prove this year and accomplish. We can’t get complacent.”

La Rocque has asked a lot from her two stars as players and leaders.

“They have a heavy load to shoulder this year, and they’re embracing it,” La Rocque said. “There’s a lot that comes with it.”

La Rocque won’t have to rely on Booker and Young every night. Starting guards Justice Ethridge and Alyssa Durazo-Frescas return, along with reserve guard Kiara Jackson and the reigning sixth-player of the year, Nneka Obiazor.

“We’ve got a lot of talent and depth, and we’re going to rely on that,” La Rocque said. “It could be anyone’s night on any game, and that’s what we’re trying to embrace.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on Twitter.