Complete Notes in PDF

The Mavericks will look to distance themselves from a pair of teams that are fighting for a spot in the MIAA tournament as they play two conference games this week. Wednesday they will play at Missouri Western at 7:30 p.m. in Looney Fieldhouse and Saturday they will return home to host Truman at 1:30 p.m. in Sapp Fieldhouse.

Saturday's contest will be a WBCA Pink Zone game to help raise awareness for breast cancer. The Mavericks will wear pink uniforms and the cheerleaders will be throwing pink shoe laces and pink stuffed animals into the crowd. Fans will have a chance to support breast cancer awareness by purchasing t-shirts from the cheerleaders.

Nebraska-Omaha split a pair of games last week to move to 10-9 overall and tied for seventh in the MIAA at 5-7. The Mavs beat Northwest Missouri at home on Wednesday and then fell at fifth-ranked Emporia State Saturday. With two weeks remaining in the regular season, they will look to hold onto their top-eight spot in the standings to earn a berth into the MIAA postseason tournament for the second straight year. Their two opponents this week are trying to get into the top eight.

Missouri Western is ninth in the MIAA at 7-15 overall and 5-10 in the league. The Griffons have lost four straight including their lone game last week at Missouri Southern and they are one win behind the Mavs in the standings.

Truman is 7-15 overall and last in the league at 2-13. The Bulldogs are trying to fight off elimination and end a four-game losing streak after dropping games against Washburn and Southwest Baptist last week. They'll play at Fort Hays State Thursday before coming to Omaha Saturday.

Following The Mavericks
Wednesday's game at Missouri Western will be broadcast on 90.7 KVNO FM and online at omavs.com/KVNO. Saturday's game against Truman will be broadcast on 90.7-2 KVNO HD and 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 www.gogriffons.com/xlive_MBB.asp for Wednesday' game and at omavs.com/LiveStats for Saturday's game.

Most games throughout the year will be available through 90.7 KVNO FM or 90.7-2 KVNO HD. Live stats and video will be available for the remainder of the 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 93-71 (.567) in her sixth season with the Mavericks. She is also in her 10th year overall as a head coach with a 153-120 (.560) 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.

Lynn Plett is 25-51 (.329) in his second season at Missouri Western and he's 301-270 (.527) all-time 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.

Truman coach Michael Smith is 15-34 (.441) in his second year with the Bulldogs. Prior to that he was an assistant at Arkansas-Little Rock and a head coach at Moberly Area CC. He graduated from Central Methodist and then spent time as an assistant at Northwest Missouri and Angelo State.

The Series
- The Mavericks lead the all-time series against MWSU, 8-3.  They swept the Griffons last year and they won their meeting in Omaha this year, 59-51.
- The series began in 1989-90.
- UNO leads the all-time series against Truman, 5-1. The Mavericks won both games last year against the Bulldogs and won at home earlier this year, 58-44.
- Prior to last year, the two hadn't played since 2000-01 when TSU won its only game in the series.
- The series began in 1988-89.

Maverick Guards Keep UNO Atop League in Steals, Forced Turnovers
Freshman guard Jamie Nash leads the MIAA in steals per game with 3.1 and senior guard Alyssa Green is second with 2.6 a game. Overall, the Mavericks lead the conference with 11.5 steals a game.

UNO has had double-figure steals in 13 of its 21 games this year. The Mavs had a season-high 26 steals against Oklahoma Panhandle State and they only allowed the Lady Aggies three steals.  They have only been out-stolen by their opponents seven times this year.

The Mavericks also lead the MIAA in forced turnovers, getting their opponents to give the ball away 21.8 times a game. Despite having  an inflated turnover average of 19.1 a game themselves, the Mavericks are second in the conference in turnover margin at +2.67 overall. Their opponents have committed 20 or more turnovers 13 times.

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.

Cutting It Close
Up until their 18-point loss at No. 5 Emporia State last Saturday, UNO's previous seven games were all decided by 10 points or less. They beat Southwest Baptist by seven, Pittsburg State by six and Northwest Missouri by five. They lost to Central Missouri, Missouri Southern, Washburn and Fort Hays State by six, three, eight and 10, respectively.

Overall, the Mavs are 7-5 in games decided by 10 points or less and 1-2 in games decided by five or less.

Mavs Staying In Games Despite Low Numbers
The Mavericks sit at ninth in the MIAA in scoring with 65.0 points a game and last in shooting with a .371 field goal percentage. They are able to keep a winning record by holding opponents to 62.4 points a game, the fifth lowest total in the conference, and to a .367 field goal percentage, also the fifth lowest total.

The Mavericks are 5-2 when they shoot 40 percent or better. The lone losses came on January 9 against Central Missouri in an overtime game at last week at ESU when they shot 47 percent, their highest effort since the season opener. Conversely, they are 6-8 when they shoot below 40 percent. The Mavs are 11-4 when their opponents shoot below 40 percent and they are 0-5 when their foes top 40 percent.

UNO is shooting 40 percent as a team in its wins and 34 percent in its losses.

Green Reaches Career Milestones
Senior guard Alyssa Green joined some exclusive clubs this year and she will look to climb up UNO's career charts as she ends her playing time with the Mavericks.

Green became just the second UNO player to score 1,000 points and get at least 300 assists and 200 steals. Kriss Edwards was the first to reach that milestone during her career from 1977-81.

Green's third free throw in the season-opener against Dana was her 1,000th career point at UNO and she now has 1,306 points to put her ninth in school history. She needs 11 to move to eighth.

Earlier this year she also joined the 300 assist club and the 200 steal club. She's sixth with 325 assists and four away from the top five. She's third right now with 233 steals.

Green Scoring Big For Mavericks
Senior guard Alyssa Green is first on the team and tied for seventh in the MIAA averaging 14.7 point a game. She's reached double figures in scoring in six straight games and overall she's done so in all but two games.

Green actually shoots and scores better on the road than at home. In UNO's seven true road games she's averaging 15.3 points a game and shooting 44 percent. At home, she averages 14.9 points a game and shoots 35 percent. Overall, she's a 38 percent shooter.

Green scored 23 points at home against Central Missouri January 9 to give her a season high. The point total was one off her career-high of 24 set against Pittsburg State last year.

Rebounds Well Distributed For UNO
Four of UNO's five starters are averaging around five rebounds a game, spreading the bulk of UNO's rebounds from right under the basket all the way out to the perimeter. Senior forward Ashley Nelson leads UNO with 5.3 rebounds a game and senior guard Alyssa Green and sophomore forward Heather Pohl are second with 5.1 a game. Freshman guard Jessica Zaruba has 4.6 a game. Freshman guard Jamie Nash, the other starter, is averaging 3.4 rebounds a game.

Freshman forward Kiley Herold leads the bench players with 4.0 rebounds a game.

Nash Having Strong Freshman Campaign
Freshman guard Jamie Nash is putting up strong numbers in her first season with Nebraska-Omaha. She's first in the MIAA with 3.1 steals and seventh with 3.3 assists a game. Her 1.0 assist/turnover ration is ninth best in the conference. Nash has had five steals or more eight times this year with a season-high of seven January 27 against Fort Hays State. Nash has led the team in assists 11 times this year and UNO is 8-3 when she does so.

Nash is averaging 7.0 points and 3.4 rebounds a game. She's scored in double figures four times this year with a season-high 15 against Pittsburg State on January 20.

Pohl Scoring Big As a Sophomore
Sophomore forward Heather Pohl tied a season high with 22 points two weeks ago at Fort Hays State and then last week she scored 16 and 18 to bump her season average above double figures. She's averaging 10.6 a game to make her UNO's second double figure scorer. In the last six she's averaging 15.3 a game and shooting 49 percent from 3-point range.

Pohl has made a 3-pointer in eight straight games and she's averaging 3.0 makes a game during that stretch. Overall, she averages 1.7 makes a game.

Pohl is averaging 13.6 points a game in UNO's six true road games and 11.6 a game in UNO's 14 MIAA games.

Nelson Third on Team in Scoring
Senior forward Ashley Nelson is third on the team in scoring with 9.2 points a game. She scored in double figures twice last week to give her six total double-figure scoring games.

She was named the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association athlete of the week after her efforts over the Thanksgiving weekend. She scored 15 points against Oklahoma Panhandle State and then against Chadron State 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 leads the team with 35 total blocks and she's third in the MIAA with 1.7 per game. She's blocked at least one shot in all but three games this year and she tied a school record with seven on January 16 at Missouri Southern.

Three MIAA Teams Ranked In Regional Poll
Three MIAA teams are in the top 10 in the NCAA South Central Region ranking released last year. The good news is, those three teams do not appear on UNO's remaining schedule.

Emporia State is No. 2, Washburn is No. 4 and Fort Hays State is No. 7. UNO was swept by ESU and WU and split with FHSU this year.

Mavericks Playing 40th Season Of Basketball
- The start of the 2009-10 season marked 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 533-488 (.523) in 1,019 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
Two weeks remain on the schedule as the Mavs look to extend their season into the MIAA postseason. Wednesday, February 17, they play at Central Missouri at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 20 they host Southwest Baptist at 1:30 p.m.