Box Score
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The UNO women's basketball team's season ended with a furious comeback which fell just short. The Mavericks lost to the Pittsburg State Gorillas, 81-79, in the first round of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Championship. They finish the season at 15-12.
#Alyssa Green finished with a game-high 24 points while Cayla Hargrove and Amanda Brodsack# each pitched in 12. Ashley Nelson had nine points.
UNO was cold from the floor to start the game while Pittsburg State shot better than 58 percent. They had plenty of success underneath as forward Nicole McCombs earned 13 points in the half. DePrice Taylor added 10. Her jumper with 5:44 pushed the Gorillas' lead to 27-16, their largest in the stanza.
A pair of three-pointers by Green with less than four minutes to go put UNO within four at 29-25. But Pittsburg State took advantage of a turnover and miss to score five quick points to push their lead to nine, 38-29, at the break.
The Mavericks struggled in the second half against an opportunistic team from Pittsburg State. With 10:05 to go in the game, they trailed 65-49, their largest deficit of the game.
But UNO started forcing turnovers by the Gorillas and started hitting shots at the other end. Green continued to pour it on, knocking down a jumper with 3:50 to go to get the Mavs to within 76-69.
Hargrove came off the bench to contribute five points to the run. When Brodsack knocked down a three with 33 seconds to go, the Mavericks trailed 79-78.
But McCombs would hit both free throws after a foul by Hargrove to give Pittsburg State an 81-78 advantage with 18 seconds remaining.
UNO got one last chance when PSU's Brianna Buchanan fouled Hargrove while she shot a three. But Hargrove made just one of the three free throws to make it 81-79.
The Mavericks got the ball back with less than three seconds to go after McCombs missed the front end of a one-and-one. #LaToya Wright#'s desperation toss from half court at the buzzer ricocheted off the backboard just a foot from the hoop.
Taylor led the Gorillas with 22 points while McCombs added 21 and Buchanan had 12.
