OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha women's basketball team ended the Sapp Fieldhouse era with a come from behind win over Denver on Saturday afternoon, 53-40.
The Mavericks finish the season winning four of their final six games to close the year 10-18 overall and 5-11 in Summit League action. Denver dropped to 8-22 overall and 5-11 in league play.
Sophomore guard Mikaela Shaw led the Mavericks with her seventh double-double of the year. Shaw scored 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a perfect 9-of-9 effort at the free throw line. She added 12 rebounds, including three offensive boards.
Playing the final home game of her career, senior center Taijhe Kelly added 14 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Freshman guard Remy Davenport had nine points while fellow freshman Vanessa Barajas chipped in six points.
Jesse Spittel had a double-double to lead Denver. She scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Morgan Van Riper-Rose added ten points. Paige Bradley grabbed nine rebounds to go along with four points and five assists.
The game got off to a slow start offensively as the teams were tied 10-10 at the 11:17 mark of the first half. Barajas and Shaw combined for eight of the Mavs first ten points.
Kelly provided four straight points as Omaha outscored Denver 10-2 to take a 20-12 lead with 5:26 remaining in the half. The Pioneers would close the half on a 9-0 run to take a 21-20 lead at the break.
In the second half, Shaw scored six straight points to give Omaha the lead for good. Davenport's second three-pointer of the half extended the Mavericks lead to 11 points with 12:06 remaining in the game, 36-25.
UNO pushed its lead to 19 points with 3:18 left in the game on a Shaw lay-up and free throw. The Pioneers would not go away quietly. Denver used buckets from Spittel and Kaila Burroughs to pull within 51-38 with 1:28 left. But Kelly scored on a tip-in after a Maverick timeout to stop the DU momentum.
Offensively, the Mavericks shot 45.5 percent (20-of-44) from the floor compared to the Pioneers' 27.4 percent (17-of-62). UNO was 23.1 percent (3-of-13) from beyond the 3-point arc and limited Denver to 9.1 percent (2-of-22). Omaha also won the battle of the boards by a 38-36 margin.
The game was bittersweet for the Mavericks as it marked the last game for UNO's four seniors – Bough, Kelly, Felicia Anderson and Cathleen Cox. The Mavericks are not eligible for the post-season in their last year of reclassification to Division I.
The win was a fitting end to the Mavericks' season and, it marked the last basketball competition at the venerable Sapp Fieldhouse. The Mavericks will move into the new UNO/Community Arena next season.
