Erica Collins and The Back to Back Conference Champion Lady Rebels

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Kenadee Winfrey (left) and Erica Colliins (right) celebrate after a sucessful play. Photo by Kalin Sipes.

The UNLV Lady Rebels 2022-2023 season was nothing short of a historic campaign. The Lady Rebels totalled a record 31 wins as well 18 straight in conference making them undefeated in conference play. 

The Lady Rebels tallied more field goals, more 3-pointers and shot the highest free-throw percentage in the clubs history. To go along with those historic marks, this season makes it the Lady Rebel’s second straight regular season title as well as back-to-back Mountain West conference championships. Head Coach Lindy La Rocque has built a mid-major powerhouse with a fairly young team returning next season.

A part of that youth is center Erica Collins who will be returning next year for her sophomore season. Coming off of a first round NCAA tournament loss to the sixth ranked Michigan Wolverines, Collins spoke about her time as a Lady Rebel as well as her goals for her future at UNLV.

When asked how she would grade her first season as a Lady Rebel she said, “I’m really hard on myself so I would say a B-minus. It took me a while to realize what more I could do after practice and what more I could do before practice.” 

Collins continued, “I think given it’s your freshman year, you don’t really know how to approach it, so I think If I could have worked earlier, worked more often with all the resources we get through our athletic department, that would have helped me grow a lot faster.”

Growth is on the horizon for the Lady Rebels as Collins is a part of eight returning players to next year’s team.

 Being a part of such a successful season as a freshman bodes well for Collins as she has had the opportunity to witness what winning looks like. With this season at a close, Collins and the rest of the Lady Rebels look to build towards another great year next season. 

When asked what the off season is like for a D1 college basketball player Collins said, “So we have about two weeks off once the season ends and really it’s two weeks off to do whatever you want to do. Whether you’re going home or you want to get extra work in. This week I’ve been getting in a lot of extra work with our strength coach, it’s all voluntary right now, nothing too crazy just staying in shape and starting in April we do our spring workouts.”

The Lady Rebels are looking to continue its dominance in the Mountain West conference with lofty goals from the returning players. 

Collins spoke a little about the goals she has for herself and the rest of the team for this upcoming season. 

“Well the sophomores have won two conference championships, two regular seasons and their goal is to go four for four. So I would say just continue winning our conference and regular season and individually just get better. I think coming in, I didn’t really know what to expect, now that I’m here I’m utilizing all the resources I can to better my performance,” Collins said.

With such a historic season to bolster many would say as the No. 11 seed in the tournament we were grossly underseeded. After a first-round tournament exit, the Lady Rebels are sure to make the most out of next year, and with such a great core group of players returning, the Lady Rebel’s fans are sure to be expecting another great season.

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