OMAHA, Neb. - Western Illinois notched an 84-62 win over the Omaha women's basketball team in the Summit League opener for both teams on Saturday at the Sapp Fieldhouse.
The Mavericks fell to 8-7 overall and 0-1 in Summit League play. Western Illinois, the top scoring team in the league at 82.5 points per game entering Saturday, improved to 9-7 and 1-0 in league play.
Mikaela Shaw had a career-high 17 points on 8-of-12 from the field for UNO. She also had five rebounds. Ericka House had 16 points but connected on just 5-of-23 from the floor. Felicia Anderson had nine points off the bench, and Lanese Bough finished with eight points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.
The Leathernecks came in to the game averaging 117 points in their last two games and picked up where they left off, shooting 44.0 percent (11-of-25) from 3-point range. WIU shot 44.3 percent (27-of-61) from the floor overall but was shooting 55.8 percent until the final eight minutes of the game, when it hit just 3-of-18 to finish the game.
WIU also connected on 19-of-22 free throws in the game, while the Mavs went 6-of-9 from the stripe. UNO shot just 34.8 percent from the field (24-of-69) and 28.6 percent from 3-point range (8-of-28).
The Mavs fell behind by 10 at halftime, 41-31, but scored the first five points of the second half on a short jumper by Shaw and a 3-pointer by Madi Robson to cut the 10-point deficit to 41-36 with 18:29 left. But the Leathernecks answered with a critical 14-2 run over the next 3:12 to take a 55-38 lead with 15:17 left.
UNO got back within 12 at 55-43 on a Bough layup and Anderson three after a steal by Taijhe Kelly, but Western Illinois used a quick 8-0 run to extend the lead to 20. WIU hit its first five 3-point attempts of the second half and went 9-of-11 from the floor to start the second half.
Western Illinois standout Ashley Luke had 28 points and 12 rebounds. Liz Skotowski had 15 points and hit 5-of-7 from 3-point range, while Tori Niemann had 11 points and seven rebounds to go with six steals.
Omaha is back at home next Thursday for Summit League action against North Dakota State.
