Complete Game Notes
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The Mavericks will begin their 40th season of basketball Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at Sapp Fieldhouse against Dana. Two starters and six total letterwinners return to head coach Patty Patton Shearer's squad looking to continue the rapid improvement she brought to the team in her first five years.

Nebraska-Omaha went 15-12 last year and finished sixth in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association with an 11-9 record. The Mavericks tip off the season after an 80-57 loss at Creighton in their only exhibition of the preseason. Dana went 0-5 through its first five matches and will play at College of St. Mary Friday before coming to UNO. The Vikings went 9-20 last year and finished 11th in the Great Plains Athletic Conference with a 3-15 record.

Following The Mavericks
Fans can follow all the action Sunday on KVNO 90.7 FM or they can listen to the broadcast online at www.omavs.com/kvno.

Fans can follow a live video webcast of the game at www.omavs.com/LiveVideo for a fee or they can watch free live stats at www.omavs.com/LiveStats.

Most games throughout the year will be available through KVNO 90.7 FM or KVNO 90.7-2 on a high-definition radio tuner. Live video and live stats will be available for all home games and many away games. Fans can find links to all live video, audio and stats through www.omavs.com/wbb on the schedule page.

The Coaches
UNO head coach Patty Patton Shearer is 82-61 (.573) as she starts her sixth season with the Mavericks. She is also beginning her 10th year overall as a head coach with a 142-110 (.563) record. She is the school's leader in career winning percentage. Patton Shearer is a 1990 graduate of Rocky Mountain College. She played one year for the Bears after playing two years at Northern Arizona. Patton Shearer coached for four seasons at Fort Lewis before coming to UNO.

Dana coach Shane Larson begins his first season as a head coach after spending two seasons at Fort Hays State as a recruiting coordinator and assistant coach. He also brings experience as a high school head coach. He is a graduate of Bethany College (Kan.).

The Series
- Despite being less than an hour apart from each other, the Mavericks and Vikings have met just twice in the series history and both those match-ups came in the last two seasons. UNO won both the meetings.
- The Mavericks won last year in their home opener, 79-51 on November 19. They also won, 79-36 on November 15, 2007. The two victories were by an average of 35.5 points.
- LaToya Wright scored 13 points to lead UNO last year and every Mav who got in the game scored.

Mavericks in Season Openers
- The Mavericks are 25-13 in season openers dating back to 1971-72.
- Head coach Patty Patton Shearer is 3-2 in season openers with a pair of losses coming to Nebraska-Kearney. She is 4-1 in home openers with the loss coming against Rockhurst in 2005-06.
- The Mavs have played Dana in each of their last two season openers and won by an average of 35.5 points.

Green Enters Year 3 Points Shy of 1,000 Point Club
Maverick senior guard Alyssa Green could potentially enter an elite club when she makes her first basket this season. Green will enter her final year just three points shy of scoring 1,000 in her career. She currently has 997 and she's looking to become the 22nd member of UNO's 1,000 points club.

Green's already ninth in career 3-pointers with 79 and she needs six to tie for eighth. She's also ninth with 275 career assists, just three shy of eighth all-time.

Green scored 11 points in UNO's exhibition at Creighton on November 5. She for 4-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. She did not shoot a 3-pointer.

This would be the second straight year the Mavericks have had a new member of the 1,000 point club. Last year Cayla Hargrove joined the elite group and she ended her career 15th with 1,106 points.

Green started 81 of 84 matches in her career at UNO and she's averaging 11.9 points a game. She came to UNO from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she scored more than 1,000 career points.

Pohl Has Break-Out Game At Creighton
Sophomore forward Heather Pohl played in every game last year and averaged 1.6 points with no starts. She never scored more than nine points in a game. November 5 at Creighton she started and scored 21 points off a strong shooting performance. She was 7-of-10 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free throw line. She also tied her season-high from last year with six rebounds and she blocked a shot and had two steals.

Pohl scored 1,000 career points at Omaha's Millard West High School where she earned first team all-state and was a McDonald's All-America nominee.

Steals Pay Off For Mavs
The Mavericks led the MIAA in steals last year with 11.00 per game and they were the only team to average in double figures. They stole the ball 10 or more times in 18 of 27 games last year and they out-stole their opponents in every game but six.

November 5 at Creighton they had 10 steals while the Bluejays took the ball from UNO 15 times. Alyssa Green and Jamie Nash tied for the UNO lead with three each and Heather Pohl had two.

Herold Stays Close To Home, Real Close To Family
Freshman forward Kiley Herold is not only staying close to home by going to UNO. She's also staying really close to family. Her father, Bob Herold is the UNO baseball coach.

Kiley Herold graduated from Omaha's Millard North High School last year and earned all-Metro honors her final two years. Her senior year she was an all-state selection. November 5 at Creighton she scored five points with two rebounds before fouling out.

Bob Herold will begin his 11th season at UNO this spring. He has guided UNO to a 341-204-2 record and five straight trips to the NCAA tournament.

Both Preseason Polls Pick UNO Women Seventh
The league coaches and media both picked the UNO women's basketball team to finish seventh in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association as the league released its preseason polls at its yearly media day October 27.

Defending regular season champion Emporia State was the top choice in both polls. The Hornets got 96 points and seven first-place votes from the coaches and 291 points and 15 first-place votes from the media.

UNO got 47 points from the coaches and trailed No. 6 Missouri Southern by four points. In the media poll, the Mavericks earned 138 points and trailed No. 6 Fort Hays State by 20 points.

Mavericks Playing 40th Season Of Basketball
- The start of the 2009-10 season will mark the 40th season of women's basketball at UNO.
- The program started in 1970-71 but win-loss records are not available until the 1971-72 season.
- In those first 38 years, the Mavericks have gone 522-478 (.522).
- There have been 19 winning seasons and 23 seasons with at least a .500 record.
- The Mavericks have three North Central Conference championships in their history (1980, 1981, 1982) and they have been to the NCAA tournament three times (1982, 1987, 1992). They went to the AIAW tournament four times.

Coming Up
The Mavericks will head to Warrensburg, Mo., to compete in the Central Missouri Jennies Classic. Friday, November 20, they'll play Minnesota Duluth and Saturday, November 21, they'll play Texas A&M-Kingsville. Both games will begin at 12:30 p.m.

The Mavericks are 4-6 all-time against UMD, a former North Central Conference foe. They have never played TAMUK.

2009-10 Season Outlook
Head coach Patty Patton Shearer will begin her sixth year at Nebraska-Omaha looking to build on the rapid improvement she led the team to in her first five years.

The Mavericks lost six seniors from last year's 15-12 team and they return just 32 percent of last year's scoring. Despite that, Patton Shearer believes the Mavericks can challenge for a top spot in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

UNO had its fourth straight winning season last year and its first winning conference record since 1991-92. The team finished sixth in the MIAA with an 11-9 record.

The Mavericks will return two starters and six total letterwinners.

The Guards
Anchoring the team will be senior Alyssa Green, an honorable mention all-MIAA guard. Green finished third on the team last year with 11.1 points a game. She will be the top returning point scorer for this year's Mavericks.

Patton Shearer will need those same numbers, as well as the speed and defensive pressure that comes from her aggressive style.

Green could gain admission into an elite UNO club with her first made basket of the 2009-10 season. She finished last year with 997 career points and she'll need just three more to become the 22nd member of the 1,000 point club. She already is ninth with 79 career 3-pointers and ninth with 275 career steals.

Green scored in double figures 16 times last year. She had a season-high 24 points against Pittsburg State in the MIAA tournament and also scored 23 in a win against fourth-ranked Emporia State.

Also returning will be senior point guard Autralius Sanders. She played in 25 games with one start while playing 13.4 minutes a game. She averaged just over a point and a rebound per game and also dished out two assists.

Patton Shearer said she came on huge at the end of the year with great energy. If she can carry that enthusiasm over to her senior year, she will have a big season for the Mavericks.

All the rest of the playing time at the guard position will be filled by freshmen.

Paige Frauendorfer was an all-state player at Humphrey High School in Humphrey, Neb., who scored 1,000 career points by her junior season.

Verona, Mo., native Jamie Nash earned first team all-conference and all-district all four years at Aurora High School.

Sara Reeves helped her team to a state championship her senior year at Bishop Neumann High School in Wahoo, Neb. She earned all-state honors her final two seasons and played in four high school all-star games.

Rounding out the freshmen available to play guard is Jessica Zaruba. The Norfolk, Neb., native earned all-state her junior year while helping her team to a state championship. Her senior year she suffered a knee injury and did not play.

Patton Shearer believes that her entire group of freshmen recruits will be able to step on the court right away. Fans will see their unselfish investment to the team from the beginning as well as their scoring ability and overall smart basketball IQ.

The Forwards
Ashley Nelson will return after scoring 7.5 points a game with 3.6 rebounds. Patton Shearer says she's capable of improving those numbers and she will be relied on to make plays on both ends of the court.

Heather Pohl will return as the only sophomore on the team. She played every game last year and scored 1.6 points and 1.7 rebounds a game. She learned a lot about the college game last year and fans should see right away that she has a tremendous scoring ability.

Senior Kylee Rinehart has seen action in just 19 games since transferring to UNO three seasons ago. Last year she missed the entire year with a concussion and the year before that she battled injuries and appeared in 19 games to score 2.6 points a game with 2.6 rebounds. She spent her first two collegiate seasons at Casper Community College.

Patton Shearer has missed Rinehart's physical ability. She's a strong player whose rebounding skills should help with the tempo of transition the Mavericks would like to play with.

Freshman Kiley Herold will be the only newcomer to the college game at forward for UNO. She's a hard worker who will do anything for the team. She earned all-Metro her final two seasons's at Omaha's Millard North High School and her junior year she helped the Mustangs finish third in state. Patton Shearer attributes the same accolades to Herold as she did to her freshmen guards.

Junior forward Katie Kane will have to sit out this year after suffering a knee injury in the preseason.