This Week
     The Omaha women's basketball team opens the regular season on Friday at Louisiana-Lafayette. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the CajunDome. The Mavericks follow up on Sunday with a 2 p.m. contest at Alcorn State. Live stats and a live webcast (fee required) for the Louisiana-Lafayette game can be found at OMavs.com. No media coverage is available for Sunday's game at Alcorn State.

The Teams
    Omaha returns just two healthy players from last year - Ericka House and Taijhe Kelly. The only other returner, Cathleen Cox, is out for the season with a torn ACL. House averaged 9.0 points per game off the bench last season. Kelly put up 4.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 blocked shots per game. Eight newcomers are part of the Maverick program this season. The Mavs won their lone exhibition, 85-54, over Lincoln (Mo.) last Saturday at the Sapp Fieldhouse. House led the way with 19 points, while Kelly had 14 points and eight boards. Junior transfer Brianna Bogard had 14 points and four assists. Freshman Mikaela Shaw had eight points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
    Louisiana-Lafayette is coming off a 10-21 season with a 3-17 Sun Belt record. The Ragin' Cajuns return all five starters and have a total of seven returning letterwinners. Leading the way is guard Keke Veal, who averaged 13.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest last season as a freshman. Sylvana Okde chipped in 10.2 points last season, while Ashley Benjamin averaged 9.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. ULL beat Loyola (La.), 77-65, and Centenary 103-27, in exhibition contests. The Ragin' Cajuns were picked to finish seventh in the Sun Belt this season.
    Alcorn State went 2-26 last season with a 2-16 record in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Braves  are led by senior guard Tierro Frost, who averaged 11.8 points per game last season. Frost is the only returning starter for Alcorn State. The Braves were picked to finish last in the SWAC preseason poll.

Series History
    Omaha and Louisiana-Lafayette are even in the all-time series, 1-1. The Mavericks topped the Ragin' Cajuns, 79-67, last year at the Sapp Fieldhouse on Nov. 16.The Mavs never trailed in the game. Ericka House had 17 points and hit 5-of-7 from 3-point range. ULL defeated the Mavs, 62-60, on Feb. 20, 2012 in Lafayette on a 3-pointer with eight seconds left in overtime.
    UNO will be playing Alcorn State for the first time.
    
Up Next
    The Mavericks get set for their home opener on Thursday, Nov. 14 against Graceland at 7 p.m. at the Sapp Fieldhouse. Following this weekend's road trip, the Mavs are at home for three straight games before the Thanksgiving break.

Recapping the Last Time Out
    OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha women's basketball team tipped off the 2013 season on a positive note, drilling Lincoln (Mo.) 85-54 in an exhibition game on Nov. 2 at the Sapp Fieldhouse. Ericka House had a team-high 19 points - 16 in the first half - and Taijhe Kelly had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Brianna Bogard had 14 points and four assists to lead the Mavericks. Freshman Mikaela Shaw had eight points, 10 rebounds and five assists.  Jennifer Rosado led Lincoln - a Division II member of the Mavs' former conference, the MIAA - with 13 points. Nesha Wright and Jackeya Mitchell each had 10 points. UNO jumped out to a 10-2 lead and never trailed in the first game with Brittany Lange at the helm. The Mavs led 39-26 at the break, and House had 16 of the points on 4-of-9 from 3-point range and 6-of-12 from the field. Bogard had 11 points in the first half.  Omaha broke it open in the second half with a 21-10 run out of the gate to take a 60-36 lead with 9:57 to play. UNO led by as many as 33 late in the game. The Mavericks played all 10 healthy players on their roster. Junior guard Cathleen Cox will miss the entire season with a torn ACL. Victoria Trowbridge had 10 points, Felicia Anderson had eight points, Madi Robson had six, Lanese Bough had four and Sami Pawlak had two points and eight rebounds. The Mavs shot 43.5 percent from the floor (30-of-69) and 30.0 percent from 3-point range (9-of-30). UNO was 16-of-21 (76.2 percent) from the free throw line.

Kelly is a Block Machine
    Junior center Taijhe Kelly is climbing her way up the career blocked shots chart at UNO. Kelly has 117 career blocks to rank fourth in school history. She only needs 13 blocked shots to move alone into second place. The school-record holder is Mary Henke-Anderson with 291 from 1979-83. Kelly swatted 74 shots in 2012-13, the third-highest single-season total in Maverick history. In her freshman campaign, she posted 43 blocks, the eighth-best total. Only Henke-Anderson has had more blocked shots in a season (86 in 1980-81 and 75 in 1979-80). Kelly was first in The Summit League last season with her 2.6 blocks per game. Her 51 blocked shots in conference play only were 26 more than the next closest competitor.

House On Fire
    The Mavericks' lone senior, Ericka House, provided instant offense off the bench last season at 9.0 points per game, the most by any Summit League reserve player. However, this year House moves into the starting lineup and a team captain role. She hit 57-of-170 from 3-point range (33.5 percent) in her first year in the program, finishing fifth in single-season 3-pointers made and fourth in attempts in UNO history. House was voted to the Preseason All-Summit League Second Team this year. House's 57 triples last season puts her in a tie for 17th in school history for career 3-pointers made.

Bogard Leads Talented Group of Newcomers
    With only two healthy returning players entering the 2013 season, the Mavericks will be extremely dependent on production from the eight newcomers this season. Leading that charge will be junior transfer Brianna Bogard. The 5-7 point guard brings Division I experience to the Maverick lineup, having played two seasons at East Tennessee State. Bogard, who received a waiver from the NCAA to compete immediately without having to sit out a season, averaged 4.5 points and 1.5 rebounds per game through 10 games as a sophomore at ETSU last season before transferring. As a freshman in 2011-12, Bogard played 20.5 minutes per game and averaged 5.2 points per game, 1.3 assists per game and 1.3 rebounds per game. She will replace Jamie Nash, who started all but six games at point guard for the Mavs over the last four years. The Mavs have two other junior transfers in guards Felicia Anderson and Lanese Bough, and both will play veteran roles right away for the young Maverick squad. In addition to the three juniors, five freshmen are new to the program this season: Felicia Coleman, Sami Pawlak, Madi Robson, Mikaela Shaw and Victoria Trowbridge.

Cox To Miss Second Straight Season
    Junior guard Cathleen Cox suffered a torn ACL in the preseason and will miss the entire season. She re-injured the same ACL she tore in December 2012, which caused her to miss the final 21 games of 2012-13. Cox was one of only three returning players for the Mavericks entering this season. Her loss means Taijhe Kelly and Ericka House are the only Mavs who enter the season having worn the Omaha jersey before this year.
 
House Earns Preseason All-Summit League Honors; Mavs Picked Seventh
    The Mavericks were picked to finish seventh in the Summit League Preseason Poll. Additionally, senior guard Ericka House was selected to the Preseason All-Summit League Second Team. The league's head coaches, sports information directors and media voted on the preseason honors. The Mavericks collected 77 points to edge out eighth-place North Dakota State by three points. South Dakota State garnered 27-of-30 first-place votes and was tabbed the preseason favorite with 319 points. The Jackrabbits have won five straight conference tournaments. Not surprisingly, Fort Wayne guard Amanda Hyde was picked as the Preseason Player of the Year after earning Player of the Year last season.

Lange Leads Mavericks into 2013-14
    Brittany Lange was named the interim head coach on Oct. 2 after former coach Chance Lindley stepped down for personal reasons. Lange, who is 26 and turns 27 on New Year's Eve, is believed to be the youngest Division I women's basketball head coach in the nation. Lange has been on the staff for three years since the transition to Division I began, serving as both an assistant coach and director of operations. “I am more than fortunate and excited to work under the direction and leadership of Trev Alberts and the administration,” Lange said. “Our program is continually reaching new heights and laying the foundation for future Mavericks. Our expectations, competitiveness, and vision are a direct representation of our program's principles, student-athletes and athletic department leaders. I cannot imagine a more thrilling, promising or opportune place to be currently in athletics than at Omaha.” In addition to Lange, Lee Aduddell is in her first season as an assistant for the Mavs after joining the staff last May. Rodney Rogan is in his first season as an assistant coach after joining the program in October. Director of Operations Elisha Turek will now also serve as an assistant coach.

Production to Replace
    Omaha lost four starters and nine letterwinners from last year's squad, which means the Mavericks will have big shoes to fill in almost every statistical category this season. UNO must replace 76.3 percent of its scoring from last year, 78.1 percent of its rebounding, 92.2 percent of its assists and 85.9 percent of its steals. The Mavs' three leading scorers in 2012-13 - Paige Frauendorfer, Carolyn Blair-Mobley and Jamie Nash - all graduated. Combined with fellow senior Carly Cator, the four started every single game for the Mavericks. Stacia Gebers (2.3 ppg), Casse Vaughn (5.3 ppg), Kate Bayes (1.1 ppg), Myhiah Dotzler (0.9 ppg) and Allison Jackson (0.8 ppg) all moved on from the program as well.

Division I Transition Moving Along
    The Mavericks now have three full seasons under their belt in their five-year wait to become eligible for conference and NCAA postseason competition. Omaha is in its third year as a reclassifying Division I school but its second year in The Summit League. UNO is still not able to participate in the Summit League tournament or the NCAA Tournament for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. However, the Mavericks would be eligible for the Women's National Invitation Tournament and the Women's Basketball Invitational should they compile a worthy resume.

New Arena On the Horizon
    The Mavericks will play the next two seasons in the Sapp Fieldhouse, but in the 2015-16 season the Mavericks plan to move into their brand-new arena on the south side of the UNO campus. The arena - which will house both basketball teams, hockey and volleyball - is estimated to cost around $76.3 million and will hold approximately 7,500 for hockey. Fundraising and finalized designs for the arena are ongoing. Construction is slated to start in late 2013 with an expected completion date of June 2015. The proposed site of the building is at 68th and Center Streets, just south of Aksarben Village. “The arena is a game-changer for UNO - enhancing not only Maverick athletics and our move to Division I, but also recruitment, student life and as a home for university special events,” said Chancellor John Christensen.