FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Omaha women's basketball team suffered a 70-59 defeat at Fort Wayne on Thursday, Jan. 29. The loss dropped the Mavericks to 6-14 on the season and 1-7 in Summit League play. Fort Wayne moved to 8-13 overall and 2-6 in conference action.
Omaha's Mikaela Shaw had a career best 26 points in the loss. Shaw was 11-of-16 from the floor and 4-of-8 from the free throw line. She also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, including three offensive boards. Shaw also had an assist, a blocked shot, and four steals.
Junior guard Brianna Bogard finished with nine points and two assists. Senior center Taijhe Kelly scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor. Kelly also grabbed four rebounds, blocked three shots, and had four steals. Freshman guard Remy Davenport chipped in seven points and had four steals.
Fort Wayne had three players in double-digit scoring. Haley Seibert had a team high 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including a 4-of-7 effort from the 3-point line. Seibert was perfect from the charity stripe (6-of-6). She also had five assists, five steals, and three rebounds. Kamilah Carter added 17 points, while Keanna Gary had 10 points.
Fort Wayne jumped out to an early 9-2 lead with 16:44 remaining in the first half on two early buckets by Gary. A Shaw jumper at the 9:01 mark of the half cut the Mastodon lead to four points, 16-12.
A Seibert 3-pointer with 2:53 remaining in the half gave IPFW its largest lead of the half, 34-21. Three Shaw buckets in the final 2:35 cut the Fort Wayne advantage to seven points at the half, 34-27.
In the second half, the Mavericks cut the Mastodon lead to five points, 41-36, on a Kelly jumper in the paint with 14:55 remaining in the game. IPFW took its largest lead of the evening at the 9:09 mark, 57-42, on a Carter 3-pointer.
Omaha cut the Fort Wayne lead to ten points, 62-52, with 2:39 left in the game on a Felicia Anderson jumper. That was as close as the Mavs could get as the Mastodons would extend the lead back to 14 points, 69-55, with under a minute left.
Bogard made two free throws and Remy Davenport made a jumper in the closing seconds to make the final score 70-59.
Omaha finished 24-of-58 from the floor (41.4 percent), but just 2-of-15 (13.3 percent) from 3-point range. IPFW shot 47.1 percent (24-of-51) from the floor and 55 percent (11-of-20) from long distance. The Mavericks clocked seven IPFW shots on the evening and forced the Mastodons into 22 turnovers.
Omaha wraps up a three-game Summit League road trip on Saturday, Jan. 31 against IUPUI in Indianapolis, Ind. Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. (CT) from The Jungle. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
