Lady Rebels’ twin stars of Instagram are not just pretty faces

By Taylor Bern

Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Had she planned ahead, Dylan Gonzalez might have thought better of pretending to be her sister, Dakota, that high school morning.

Instead, Dylan pulled it off — which is funny considering how many people across the country now recognize her and her sister, the UNLV twins with the most crossovers, and crossover appeal, in college basketball.

It was the first day back from a break at Highland High School in Pocatello, Idaho, where the 6-foot UNLV sophomore guards were multisport stars before focusing solely on basketball — and singing.

“Music is something that we probably love almost equivalent to basketball,” Dylan said. “But basketball is going to get us our education, which is really important to us.”

See, Dakota, who is younger by 10 minutes, stayed home sick, and Dylan, who admittedly is the more mischievous of the two, didn’t feel like going to English class. So she looked at Dakota’s schedule, opted for the sibling switcheroo and sat in on French.

Everything went fine, until Dylan realized she was scheduled for the same French class the following period, while Dakota was pegged for the English course Dylan had skipped.

Dylan refused to get caught without a fight, so in between classes, she tied up her hair, shed a sweater and walked confidently back into a different seat in the same room. The teacher looked confused but then proceeded with the easiest lesson of Dylan’s academic career.

“I knew all the answers,” she joked.

The daughters of Angela, who played basketball at Kansas and professionally in Germany, and David, a cardiologist, the Gonzalez twins have three years of eligibility at UNLV after sitting out last year per transfer rules. They bring talent to the roster, and if nothing else, could help bring extra people to games.

“There are a lot of things to see when you come watch us,” said Kathy Olivier, coach of the Lady Rebels since 2008. “And if it’s because of the twins that you come watch, then more power to them.”

Dylan and Dakota have five siblings — three older, two younger — and they grew up in Denver until the sixth grade. That’s when they moved to Pocatello, where it’s illegal to frown. The twins spent their days pranking their younger siblings, including St. Mary’s freshman guard Stefan Gonzalez, and running with friends on the family’s backyard basketball court.

“It would be 1 a.m., and we’re out there playing,” Dylan said. “It just kind of became ... almost like a tradition.”

The girls dabbled in volleyball, gymnastics and track, but basketball was there all along. Dylan and Dakota were visiting Las Vegas before their freshman year when Olivier tracked them down for an introduction.

“They had so much love and spirit for the game,” Olivier said.

Their relationship with UNLV’s coaching staff blossomed. But when Dylan and Dakota started focusing more on basketball, they got more recruiting attention. Following their mom’s footsteps at Kansas felt like the right choice, and they verbally committed in August 2012.

Eight months later — and they say they’re not sure what started this — Instagram photos and videos of the sisters from Dylan’s account made the rounds on nearly every sports blog in the nation. Dakota created an account soon after; she guessed she had 50,000 followers the first day.

“It instantly took off from there, and we really didn’t even know why,” Dakota said. “It kind of hit us out of nowhere.”

Today, Dylan and Dakota have a combined 1.6 million Instagram followers and 43,000 Twitter followers, not counting fan and tribute accounts. A 3-year-old video of them singing in bed has nearly 150,000 views, they’ve appeared on Discovery Channel Canada and received a recent visit at practice from one of the biggest entertainers in the world.

“I didn’t even know who Drake was,” Olivier said.

Attractive twins who are good at basketball — it’s easy to understand the appeal. But not all of the attention has been good. Some Twitter accounts seem to cross into the obsessive, and stalkers have been an issue.

“It’s definitely a little creepy,” Dakota said. “We’re very cautious of it, but at the same time, we really appreciate the support and love we get.”

Dylan was hurt for most of their freshman year at Kansas, and neither sister felt they were getting what was sold by coach Bonnie Henrickson, who was fired the following season. When the twins decided to transfer, Las Vegas was their only choice, and UNLV got “a shot in the arm that this program needed,” Olivier said.

“They love what they do, and they love flaunting it,” she said. “Hopefully we all can be OK with that and not let it be a distraction.”

Taylor Bern can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.