UNLV gets ready for NCAA Tournament after winning back-to-back conference championships

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The UNLV Lady Rebels are heading to the dance.

The squad was undefeated in conference play with a 22-game win streak.

Lady Rebels head coach Lindy La Roque said that from the start, this team had the right mindset.

"This team was special," La Roque said. "People said kind of midway, oh, you know you could have afforded a loss to like really get them back on track or get their mind right. No. We didn't need to."

La Roque and three other players are Las Vegas locals. It's something that La Roque said is a source of pride for the team.

"The support that we've gotten back is also because of that because we've got young women out there that people know," La Roque said.

The Lady Rebels will now make consecutive NCAA tournament appearances for the first time since they went three years in a row, from 1989 to 1991.

They fell short in the first round last year but La Roque and Lady Rebels center Desi-Rae Young says this year will be different.

"I think this year, we are going to come out 10 times stronger," Young said. "Coach Lindy said it. People should be mad that they are playing against us. People should be fearful of us because we are coming in with an aggression that we didn't have that much last year. We want it this year."

"I think we are really confident in just who we are and I think we know who we are," La Roque said. "We know how we want to play."

All eyes will now be on Selection Sunday, when the Lady Rebels will find out which seed they will be for the NCAA tournament.

UNLV Athletics is inviting the public to attend a Selection Sunday watch party at the Strip View Pavilion at the Thomas & Mack Center on Sunday. Doors open at 4 p.m. with the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Selection Show airing on ESPN at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.