Complete Game Notes

The Mavericks will return to the court after a 12-day break with two MIAA games at Sapp Fieldhouse this week. Thursday, New Year's Eve, they'll host Emporia State at 12 p.m. and Saturday they'll host Missouri Western at 1:30 p.m.

The Mavericks won their final two non-conference games to improve to 6-4 this year and they are eighth in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association at 1-2. They beat Nebraska-Kearney, 68-58 on December 18 in their most recent match. Emporia State  won, 75-55 on Monday against Truman and the Lady Hornets (10-1) have won five straight. They are tied for second in the MIAA at 3-1. Missouri Western is 2-8 overall and 11th in the conference at 0-4. The Griffons fell at Washburn, 69-50 on Monday and their last win was December 14 at Newman.

The Mavericks are led in scoring by senior guard Alyssa Green with 14.0 points a game. She's reached double figures in scoring in every game and she's led UNO in scoring four times. She's averaging 16.0 points and 5.8 rebounds a game in UNO's last five contests. Sophomore guard Debi Johnson leads the Lopers with 12.9 points a game.

Following The Mavericks
Thursday's game will be broadcast on KVNO 90.7 FM or online at omavs.com/KVNO. Fans can follow all the action Saturday on 90.7-2 KVNO HD with a high-definition radio or online at omavs.com/kvnoHD2. Fans can find a link to live video for both games at omavs.com/LiveVideo and fans can find free live stats at omavs.com/Live Stats.

Most games throughout the year will be available through 90.7 KVNO FM or 90.7-2 KVNO HD. 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 omavs.com/wbb on the schedule page.

The Coaches
UNO head coach Patty Patton Shearer is 88-65 (.575) in her sixth season with the Mavericks. She is also in her 10th year overall as a head coach with a 148-114 (.565) 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.

Emporia State head coach Brandon Schneider is 286-68 (.808) in his 12th year overall, all with the Lady Hornets. He has led ESU to 10 NCAA tournaments with six MIAA titles and four MIAA tournament titles. He's brought his team to four NCAA Elite Eights tournament. He is a 1995 graduate of Wayland Baptist  where he played for four seasons.

Missouri Western State coach Lynn Plett is 20-44 (.313) in his third year with the Griffons. Overall, he is 296-278 as a head coach. Prior to starting at MWSU, he was the head coach at Lynn (Ill.) for five years. He is a graduate of Tabor (Kan.) where he played basketball and soccer.

The Series
- UNO leads the all-time series with Emporia State, 4-3.
- The two split their games last year with each team winning at home. The Lady Hornets were ranked fourth with the Mavericks beat them last year.
- The series began in 1980-81.
- UNO won the only overtime meeting between the two schools, 77-73 in 1981-82.
- The Mavericks lead the all-time series against MWSU, 7-3.  They swept the Griffons last year.
- The series began in 1989-90 and the two teams have never faced each other in overtime.

Green Keeps Reaching Double Figures
Maverick senior guard Alyssa Green has scored in double figures in every game this year and she leads UNO with 14.4 points a game. She's averaging 16.6 points and 6.2 rebounds a game in UNO's last five contests.

Green's third free throw in the season-opener against Dana was her 1,000th career point at UNO and she now has 1,141 points in her fourth season to put her 14th in school history. She's 156 points away from reaching the top 10.

Green's now tied for eighth in career 3-pointers with 85. She currently tied with former teammate Ellen Majewski and she needs 12 more to move to seventh. She's seventh with 294 career assists. Current assistant coach Karen Thies was seventh at UNO with 289 assists before Green passed her last week. Green needs six more to become the sixth UNO player to reach 300 assists.

Green is averaging 5.5 rebounds this year and she's adding 1.9 assists and 2.8 steals. She's second in the MIAA in steals right behind teammate Jamie Nash.

This is 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 has started 91 of 94 matches in her career at UNO and she's averaging 12.1 points a game. She came to UNO from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where she scored more than 1,000 career points.

Nash Excelling At Point Guard Spot
Freshman Jamie Nash leads the MIAA with 3.6 steals a game and she's fifth with 4.1 assists a game. December 12 at Northwest Missouri State she had a season-high nine assists with just one turnover and she added five steals. She has had at least four steals in each of the last four games.

Nash has started the last seven games at guard for the Mavericks and she's averaging 4.3 assists and 4.0 steals a game as a starter.

Overall, Nash is scoring 7.6 points a game and shooting 40 percent from the field. She averages 3.6 rebounds a game.

Nash played basketball and softball all four years at Auroa High School (Mo.) where she earned first team all-conference all four years.

Pohl Starting Sophomore Season Strong
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. She has started all 10 games this year and she's averaging 9.3 points a game and 5.4 rebounds a game.

Pohl has scored in double figures five times this year including in three of the last four. In those three games she averaged 14.0 points and 7.3 rebounds. December 12 at Northwest Missouri she had 19 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.

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.

Big Weekend For Nelson Earns Her MIAA Honor
Senior forward Ashley Nelson is scoring 9.2 points a game with 4.4 rebounds this year. She was named the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association athlete of the week after her efforts over the Thanksgiving weekend. Nelson averaged 21.0 points a game and shot 57 percent as UNO won both of its games in the Nebraska-Omaha Thanksgiving Classic, November 27-28. She scored 15 points against Oklahoma Panhandle State and then against Chadron State on Saturday she scored 27 points. She averaged 7.0 rebounds in both games and shot 77 percent from the free throw line. That was the first honor this year for a UNO player.

Nelson is one of two fourth-year seniors on the team. She's started a majority of the games in her career and she's averaging 5.6 points a game.

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.

They have reached double figures in steals in seven of 10 games this year and they are averaging 13.2 a game to lead the MIAA. Jamie Nash leads the league with 3.6 steals a game and Alyssa Green is second with 2.8 a game.

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 is UNO's second-leading scorer off the bench with 58 points (5.8/game). She scored in double figures three times this year. She had 12 points in the season opener against Dana as she was 5-of-6 from the field. She added 10 points November 21 against TAMUK and she had 11 points last Saturday at Northwest Missouri with a 5-of-6 performance.

She 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 marks 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 last 39 years, the Mavericks have gone 528-482 (.523) in 1,010 games.
- 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 Truman on Wednesday, January 6, and then host Central Missouri on Saturday, January 9 at Sapp Fieldhouse.