Women’s basketball makes big strides

March 16, 2009 by Sean Jaramillo 

Despite early exit, UNLV experiences  success under Olivier

The UNLV women’s basketball team experienced a coaching transition, road woes and a roller coaster season of winning streaks and losing streaks.

But the Lady Rebels, however, showed signs of life and amazing determination as they forced their way into the Mountain West semifinals and gave eventual runner-up San Diego State all they could handle. This year’s team had a far more successful season than the 14-18 overall record would have any casual fan believe.

Going into the 2008-09 season, the UNLV women’s basketball team and new head coach Kathy Olivier were unsure about who was going to support her new “administration” and stick to her program to help the team succeed. 

Olivier was pleasantly surprised by the support she received from the team, especially from senior Shamela Hampton.

“The first week on the job I had individual meetings,” Olivier said. “It was still school for them, so I had an opportunity to work them out and I could tell she liked our individual workout. Shamela is a dream.”

Hampton, as well as four other seniors, all bought into the system and were all factors in the team’s run at the conference title, but with the seniors leaving, UNLV has some big shoes to fill for next year. One key building block for the future will be the Mountain West Conference’s Freshman of the Year, Jamie Smith, who has been learning under Hampton throughout the season.

“Definitely something I’m going to take is Shamela’s fire that she had.  She was a great leader,” Smith said. “I have the best person to follow.  That’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Olivier is also confident that Smith can take up her workload and be a leader for the Lady Rebels for years to come.

“[Hampton] has taught Jamie a lot.  [Smith has been] feeding off everything [Hampton has] done,” Olivier said. “This year as a freshman [being a leader] wasn’t her job.  I think next year we’re going to be young, and it’s going to be another challenge.”

As one of the outgoing seniors, [Hampton] was very glad to have been able to be on the same team as Smith and Olivier.

“I’d try to hype [Smith] up before the game.  She’s a great player,” Hampton said. “I’m also honored that I have a coach like Olivier. She has helped us throughout this journey and I thank her for that.”

Ultimately, the Lady Rebels took these girls’ contributions along with others from India Chaney, Erica Helms and Brittany Halberg to nearly double the win total from last season.

Although their road record was not particularly strong, they were a threat throughout the home schedule and never lost a conference game at the Cox Pavilion by more than six points.

Olivier has to replace seniors and work on some other team issues before making a run at the championship again next year, but she is optimistic about the future of Lady Rebel basketball.

“We have some good freshmen coming in. I believe they were ranked in the top 50 recruiting class in the country, but you never know,” Olivier said. “I’m looking forward to next year even though I didn’t want this year to stop.  This year was fun, and it was a great run.”