Final Stats
OMAHA, Neb. - The UNO women's basketball team fended off a late rally by Missouri Western and closed out 2011 with a 64-62 win over the Griffons on Saturday afternoon at the Sapp Fieldhouse.
The Mavs - who earned their second win this season over a former MIAA opponent in as many tries - never trailed in improving to 9-5 on the season. The Griffons, who swept UNO last year, fell to 2-8 on the season.
Freshman
Cathleen Cox had a career-high 23 points on 10-of-17 from the field, and
Paige Frauendorfer chipped in 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks.
Although UNO led comfortably for most of the game, the Griffons made a run at the Mavs down the stretch. UNO led 64-51 after a layup by
Zenta Liepa with 2:20 to play, but the Griffons had a comeback in mind. Griffon star Jessica Koch scored on a jumper, then Brittany Griswold scored in the paint to cut the UNO lead to nine with 1:02 left. After a UNO miss, Koch was fouled and made two free throws to make it 64-57 with 33 seconds on the clock.
The Mavs then turned the ball over with 12 seconds left, and Koch drew another foul and drained both free throws to cut the lead to 64-59 with seven seconds left. UNO then missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Koch sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap an 11-0 Griffon run to end the game.
Regardless, the Mavericks led from start to finish after jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead. With the Mavs leading 10-9 at the 14:37 mark, a 14-0 run over the next 6:28 was the decisive run the Mavericks needed to take control. Liepa started the run with a putback on an offensive rebound, then Frauendorfer scored from close range, and Cox knocked down a jumper before
Heather Pohl sank a 3-pointer. Pohl scored another bucket less than 30 seconds later, and Cox drained a 3 at 8:26 to make it 24-9 UNO.
After the Griffons answered with a three to stop the bleeding, Frauendorfer and Cox converted consecutive buckets, pushing the lead to 14 at 28-14 with 6:54 left. The Griffons scored the final five points of the half to pull within nine at the break, 41-32. The Mavs shot 57.6 percent (19-of-33) from the field in the first half, while the Griffons shot just 32.1 percent (9-of-28).
UNO's lead was in large part thanks to Cox. The Elkhorn native came off the bench and sparked UNO with 14 first-half points, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
The Mavs saw their lead slip to seven midway through the second half, 49-42 with 13:36 left. But UNO used an 8-0 run to reclaim a 15-point lead.
Taijhe Kelly converted a layup, then Cox hit a jumper and
Jamie Nash scored a fast-break layup. Pohl knocked down two free throws to make it 57-42 with 11:11 remaining. Missouri Western chipped the lead back down to nine at 57-48, but Cox nailed a three to end that spurt.
The Mavs finished with a 36-10 advantage in points in the paint and a 31-11 advantage in bench points. Pohl had nine points, while Nash had six points, six rebounds, seven assists and five steals.
UNO travels to face Saint Louis on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m., then returns home to host its first Division I game against Cornell on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 1 p.m.
