Conference pick Lady Rebels turn goals into expectations

Of course UNLV women’s basketball coach Lindy La Rocque and her Lady Rebels would see the Mountain West’s annual preseason poll, in which they were picked to win the league again as the two-time defending conference champions.

But don’t expect them to acknowledge it when the season begins.

“Even the coaches around the league know that preseason polls don’t mean much,” La Rocque said Wednesday in a spacious conference room inside Resorts World Las Vegas, where the league on Wednesday held its media day for women’s basketball.

“But we appreciate … the respect for our program and what we’ve done the last couple years.”

UNLV garnered 24 of 27 possible first-place votes from the conference’s coaches and media members, underscoring again their emergence under La Rocque, who carries a 72-19 coaching record into her fourth season with the Lady Rebels. They played as conference champions in the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons.

A third consecutive tournament berth isn’t a goal but an expectation.

“We’re grateful to be here and humbled for what we’ve done,” La Rocque added. “But we have a lot of places we still want to go.”

Leading the Lady Rebels again is senior forward Desi-rae Young, the league’s Player of the Year in 2021-22 and a preseason all-conference honoree. She averaged 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds last season, shooting 59.2 percent from the field, and returns to anchor a lineup that now includes junior point guard Kiara Jackson.

Also a preseason all-conference honoree, Jackson as the league’s reigning Sixth Player of the Years replaces All-mountain West point guard Essence Booker in the starting lineup.

She averaged 7.9 points and 2.2 assists last season and says she’s ready to assume a more significant role.

“I just continue putting in the work that I’ve been putting in the last two years,” Jackson said. “It definitely did help playing under Essence and just getting that support and leadership from her.”

Additionally, Lady Rebels freshman guard Amarachi Kimpson was voted preseason co-freshman of the Year.

Colorado State earned one first-place vote and Wyoming two, slotting second and third behind UNLV. Young and Jackson are joined on the all-conference team by Wyoming’s Allyson Fertig; Colorado State’s Mckenna Hofschild, the reigning conference Player of the Year; and Boise State’s Abby Muse.

“The league is getting better and better every year,” La Rocque said.

So too does the nonconference schedule for the Lady Rebels, whose 11-game slate includes Arizona, Oklahoma and Seton Hall in succession in an effort to better prepare for the postseason. La Rocque said she wants UNLV to play an increasingly tougher nonconference schedule as the program develops.

The season begins at Loyola Marymount on Nov. 6 while conference play begins Dec. 30 versus Utah State.

“Those teams are going to test our strengths and our weaknesses,” Young said of the nonleague schedule. “So it’s all about winning and beating those teams to prove that we are better than we were last year.”