This Weekend
The Omaha women's basketball team caps its four-game road trip this week, traveling to in-state foe Nebraska on Tuesday, Nov. 22. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Neb. A live video stream will be available for BTN Plus subscribers with the radio call of Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch accompanying the action.
Additionally, KOIL 1290 AM will carry the radio broadcast live with Donny Baarns calling the action, and fans can stream the audio on their smartphones by downloading NRG Media's app “The Mighty 1290 KOIL.” Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
Quick Hits• Omaha opened the 2016-17 season with three road games in the Preseason WNIT, playing Colorado State (Nov. 11), Abilene Christian (Nov. 18) and North Texas (Nov. 19).
• The Mavericks are currently 1-2 (0-0 Summit League) on the year after an 85-57 victory over North Texas last Saturday.
• The Mavericks finished the 2015-16 season at 15-15 overall and 7-9 in the Summit League, finishing sixth in the conference.
• Omaha returns eight letterwinners from its 2015-16 team, including three starters in senior forward
Mikaela Shaw, senior guard
Abi Lujan and junior guard
Remy Davenport.
• UNO was selected to finish fifth in the 2016-17 Preseason Summit League Coaches' Poll, and Shaw was named to Preseason All-Summit League First Team.
• Shaw leads the Mavericks in points (14.0), rebounds (8.3), assists (5.0) and blocked shots (1.0)
• Redshirt senior guard
Michaela Dapprich averages 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.
• The Mavericks will play a total of 29 games, including 13 contests at Baxter Arena.
• Omaha's non-conference schedule includes Colorado State, Creighton, Kansas State, Nebraska and UCF.
•
Brittany Lange is in her fourth season as head coach.
Scouting the Nebraska Cornhuskers
Nebraska is 2-1 (0-0 BIG 10) on the year after a 62-59 win over Colorado State in the Preseason WNIT last Saturday. Forward Jessica Shepard led the Cornhuskers with 24 points and 13 rebounds against CSU. Hannah Whitish chipped in 10 points off the bench.
Overall, Shepard averages a double-double with 17.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. Nicea Eliely adds 7.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Head coach Amy Williams is in her first season at Nebraska with a record of 2-1 and carries a career mark of 195-110 in 10 seasons.
Series History
Tuesday is the 32nd meeting between Omaha and Nebraska, with the Cornhuskers leading the all-time series, 20-11. The Big Red won the last meeting on Nov. 26, 2010, 80-44.
Last Time Out: Dapprich, Shaw Power Omaha Over North Texas
Michaela Dapprich's 26 points and seven rebounds led the Omaha women's basketball team to an 85-57 victory over North Texas at Moody Coliseum Saturday afternoon in the final game of the consolation bracket of the 2016 Preseason WNIT.
Mikaela Shaw just missed a triple-double with 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Shaw also blocked two shots and had two steals. Remy Davenport added 11 points, four boards and three assists.
Junior guard Marissa Preston chipped in nine points on three 3-pointers, while sophomore guard Amber Vidal had six points and a game-high eight assists. Redshirt sophomore center Courtney Vaccher scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Micayla Buckner, Kelsey Criner, Terra Ellison and Candice Adam each had eight points for North Texas.
Things clicked from the onset of the contest for Omaha as the Mavericks built a 12-2 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Dapprich opened the game by scoring six of UNO's first nine points. Davenport added five points in the period as Omaha led 18-11 after the first 10 minutes.
The Mavericks opened the second quarter with a 10-4 run to push its lead to 13 points with 7:20 remaining. The Mean Green cut the lead to eight points with 2:06 remaining in the second half on a pair of free throws from Madi Townley. Back-to-back buckets from Shaw and Dapprich pushed Omaha's advantage to 11 with under a minute left. North Texas hit two free throws to cut the lead to nine heading into the halftime break, 32-23.
The Mavericks came out firing in the second half, pushing the lead to double-digits with an opening trey from Shaw. A pair of 3-pointers from Dapprich kick-started a 13-0 run by Omaha to put the game out of reach midway through the third quarter. A layup from sophomore guard Ellie Brecht gave the Mavericks a 19 point lead at the end of the third quarter, 60-41.
Shaw tacked on her fifth bucket of the game to start the final quarter, followed quickly by a Dapprich basket to make it a 21-point edge. Preston's third 3-pointer put Omaha ahead 78-53 with three minutes remaining. Freshman guard Alexa Fisher scored five points to close out the game and made the final score 85-57.
As a team, Omaha hit .534 percent (31-of-58) of its shots from the floor including 11-of-24 three-pointers (.458). The Mavericks connected on .923 percent (12-of-13) of its free throws. Omaha outrebounded North Texas 42-30. UNO held the Mean Green to just .343 percent (23-of-67) shooting, including a 5-of-18 performance (.278) from three-point range.
What a Start
Omaha opened the 2016-17 season by playing two teams that won conference titles and had a combined record of 57-6 last year. Colorado State won the Mountain West and played in the NCAA National Tournament, while Abilene Christian won the Southland Conference regular-season title and appeared in the WNIT.
Shaw's Way
Through the first three games of the season, Mikaela Shaw leads the Mavericks in points (14.0), rebounds (8.3), assists (5.0), blocked shots (1.0) and minutes (35.3) per game. Shaw had a season-best 15 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and two steals against North Texas last Saturday.
Big Night
Michaela Dapprich delivered a season-high 26 points on 10-of-19 shooting against North Texas. Dapprich added seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot last Saturday. In her first three games in a Maverick uniform, she has seen her points and rebounds improve each game.
Doing It All
Remy Davenport has done a little bit of everything this year for Omaha. The junior guard is averaging 8.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in the first month of the season. She had a season-best 12 points, five rebounds and five assists last Friday at Abilene Christian.
34 and Counting
Mikaela Shaw's 15 points last Saturday night marked the 34th consecutive game the forward has reached double-digits for the Mavericks. The last time she scored less than 10 points was Feb. 26, 2015 against Fort Wayne.
Great Start
Courtney Vaccher has averaged 6.0 points and 7.3 rebounds through her first three games this season. She has grabbed eight boards in each of the last two games for Omaha and has averaged 2.5 steals over the same span.
Sharp Shooter
Marissa Preston went 3-of-3 from behind the 3-point line against North Texas and is shooting 70 percent from beyond the arc this season. The junior is averaging 7.7 points and 1.8 assists per game this season.
Top 10 Performer
Mikaela Shaw has cracked the top 10 in all-time scoring and rebounding this season. She is now 10th all-time in scoring with 1,312 points and seventh all-time with 692 career rebounds. Shaw needs 270 points and 233 rebounds to break into the top five in each category.
Davenport from Downtown
Remy Davenport averaged 10.3 points per game and was one of the top 3-point shooters in the Summit League last season. Davenport shot .371 (65-of-175) from downtown as a sophomore.
She has made 134 career 3-pointers to rank sixth in program history. She connected on 65 3-pointers and set the UNO single-game record with 10 made treys against Denver on Jan. 17, 2016.
At a Glance: 2015-16
Omaha finished the 2015-16 season with a record of 15-15 (7-9 Summit League). Mikaela Shaw and former Maverick Caroline Hogue earned All-Summit League recognition, as Shaw garnered First-Team accolades and Hogue earned a spot on the All-Newcomer team.
In its first year after completing its transition to Division I, UNO picked up its first Summit League Tournament victory, defeating third-seeded IUPUI, 62-51.
As a team, Omaha led the Summit League with 5.8 blocks per game last year. The Mavericks were also first in free throw percentage (72.2) and second in opponent's field-goal percentage (38.5).
Meeting the Mavs
UNO returns three starters from the 2015-16 squad, including the Summit League's leading scorer and a First-Team All-Summit selection Mikaela Shaw, as well as Abi Lujan, and Remy Davenport (10.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg).
Returning are sophomore guards Ellie Brecht (5.7 ppg, 2.1 rpg), Sara Echelberry (1.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg), Kalen Phillips (2.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg) and Amber Vidal (5.9 ppg, 2.6 apg). Marissa Preston appeared in 30 games with three starts and averaged 2.7 points per game last season.
Leader of the Pack
Mikaela Shaw led the Mavericks in scoring (18.3 ppg), rebounding (7.9 rpg), assists (3.1 apg) and steals (1.6 spg). Shaw earned First Team All-Summit League honors and was a Third Team CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Last season, she became the 18th player in program history to score 1,000 career points and grab 500 career rebounds.
Dapprich Ready to Debut
Michaela Dapprich is ready to make the most of her senior season for the Mavericks. Before transferring to Omaha last season, Dapprich played a pivotal role as Wichita State won three regular season Missouri Valley Conference Championships, three MVC Tournament Champions and three NCAA Tournament berths.
Dapprich played in 95 games and made 72 starts in her career while averaging 9.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. She connected on 94 career 3-pointers, ranking eighth all-time in Wichita State history, plus her career 34.7 3-point field goal percentage ranks ninth on the all-time list.
Ready Redshirts
Along with Michaela Dapprich, the Mavericks will look for contributions from two other Division I transfers –redshirt junior guard Moriah Dapprich and redshirt sophomore center Courtney Vaccher – and freshman Jay Bridgeman.
Moriah Dapprich played two seasons for the Shockers, appearing in 46 games and averaged 1.6 points and 1.4 rebounds. Vaccher appeared in four games as a freshman at Texas Tech.
Shaw in the Summit
Mikaela Shaw earned Preseason All-Summit League First Team accolades for the second straight season. Shaw averaged 18.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals per game in 2015-16.
As a junior, she was a first-team All-Summit League selection and named to the Summit League All-Tournament Team. Shaw led the Summit League in points per game and was second in total points (549).
Summit League Poll Released
The conference office announced last month that Omaha was picked to finish fifth in the 2016-17 Summit League Preseason Poll. The poll was tallied in a vote of the league's head coaches, communications personnel and media.
South Dakota State was the favorite to win the Summit League, garnering 30 first-place votes for 542 points. IUPUI was second with 438 points, while South Dakota earned three first-place votes and 393 points for third. Oral Roberts came in fourth with one first place vote and 391 points, followed by Omaha, which received 325 points for fifth. Western Illinois was sixth in the poll with 250 points, while North Dakota State (156), Denver (150) and Fort Wayne (80) rounded it out in seventh, eighth and ninth places, respectively.
Shaw Named to Academic All-America Third Team
Last season, Mikaela Shaw was a Third Team CoSIDA Academic All-American. Shaw became the fifth Academic All-American in Omaha women's basketball history, with Paige Frauendorfer being the first Academic All-American in the Division I era. Other women's basketball honorees include Laura Anderson (1988), Amy Loth (1997), and Stacie Kaiser (1997).
Omaha Basketball Schedule Set
UNO's 2016-17 schedule includes 29 games, and the team will play in nine states against schools from eight other Division I conference. The schedule has two opponents from the Big 12 and one each from the AAC, BIG East, CIAA, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, Southern and WAC. Three opponents – Colorado State, Kansas State and Summit League Tournament champion South Dakota State – played in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
Getting to Know Coach Lange
Brittany Lange enters her fourth season as the head coach for the Mavericks and sixth with the program overall. Last season, UNO finished with a 15-15 overall record and earned the program's first berth into the Summit League Tournament as the sixth seed. In the tournament quarterfinals, Omaha upset third-seeded IUPUI, 62-51.
Lange's assistants are Lee Aduddell, Rodney Rogan, and Kirk Walker. Sadie Murren is in her first season as the director of basketball operations.
Up Next
Omaha opens a four-game homestand on Friday, Nov. 25, hosting Indiana State at Baxter Arena. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m., and Donny Baarns will have the call on 1180 Zone 2. Fans can stream the audio on their smartphones by downloading NRG Media's app “1620 The Zone,” and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
