This Weekend
The Omaha women's basketball team welcomes Lincoln University this Thursday, Dec. 1, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. at Baxter Arena. Donny Baarns will have the radio call on 1180 Zone 2. Fans can stream audio on their smartphones by downloading NRG Media's app “1620 The Zone,” and links to live video, audio and stats will be available on OMavs.com.
Quick Hits
• Omaha scored a season-high 89 points against Wofford last Sunday. All three Maverick victories this season have been by 25 points or more.
• Omaha opened the 2016-17 season with four games over 11 days, playing Colorado State (Nov. 11), Abilene Christian (Nov. 18), North Texas (Nov. 19) and Nebraska (Nov. 22).
• The Mavericks are currently 3-3 (0-0 Summit League) on the year and have won two straight at Baxter Arena.
• 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.
• So far this season, Shaw leads the Mavericks in points (15.3), rebounds (7.7), assists (4.5) and blocked shots (1.0)
• Michaela Dapprich averages 12.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 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, Indiana State, Kansas State, Nebraska, UCF and Wofford.
• Brittany Lange is in her fourth season as head coach.
Scouting the Lincoln University Blue Tigers
Lincoln University is 1-4 (0-0 MIAA) on the year after a 73-70 loss at Quincy on Nov. 23. Overall, Yoakum Hunter leads the team with 20.2 points per game. Azaria Nave adds 19.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Tyler Brown-Henderson leads the team in rebounding by grabbing 7.8 boards per game.
Head coach Ayana McWilliams is in her first season at Lincoln University with a record of 1-4. Omaha leads the all-time series with Lincoln University, 3-1. The two teams last met in 2013-14 in an exhibition game, when Omaha defeated Lincoln University, 85-54.
Last Time Out: Omaha Rolls Past Wofford
The Omaha women's basketball team defeated Wofford on Sunday afternoon in impressive fashion, defeating the Terriers 89-64 at Baxter Arena.
Mikaela Shaw led all scorers with a season-high 21 points, shooting 56.3 percent (9-for-16) from the field. Shaw grabbed five rebounds, had two assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
Jay Bridgeman, Michaela Dapprich and Moriah Dapprich each had nine points in the win.
Bridgeman added five boards and a blocked shot. Remy Davenport had five points, five rebounds and six assists while Marissa Preston added five points, five rebounds and five assists.
Kelsey Lambdin led Wofford with 13 points and five rebounds while Kentra Washington added 13 points and three boards.
As a team, Omaha shot a season-high 53.7 percent (36-of-67) from the floor, 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from long distance and 80 percent (8-of-10) from the stripe. Wofford finished at a 48.1 percent clip (26-of-54) from the field, 50 percent (5-of-10) from 3-point distance and 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from the line. The Mavericks held the edge in rebounding (40-19), assists (24-16), blocks (5-1) and steals (7-5).
The Mavericks battled to a 21-17 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to seven points and two rebounds from Michaela Dapprich.
Omaha built its lead to nine points early in the second quarter on baskets from Bridgeman and Preston. A pair of jumpers from Lambdin cut UNO's lead to five with 5:15 left in the half, 26-21. Shaw sparked a 12-0 Maverick run with seven straight points on three layups and a free throw. Omaha scored the final six points of the half, taking a 44-24 lead at the intermission.
The Mavericks opened the second half outscoring Wofford 12-4 to advance the lead to 56-28 with 6:59 left in the third quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Moriah Dapprich and Amber Vidal gave Omaha a 32 point lead at 66-34. Ellie Brecht's trey at the 2:00 mark of the period gave UNO its largest lead of the game at 71-36. Wofford used a late 5-2 run to cut the lead to 73-41 entering the fourth quarter.
The Terriers opened the final quarter on a 15-7 run to cut the Mavericks' lead to 24 points. A 3-pointer from Alexa Fisher and a layup from Kalen Phillips moved the lead back to 30 at 89-59 before going on to the 89-64 victory.
Tough Enough
Omaha opened the 2016-17 season by playing three teams – Abilene Christian, Colorado State and Nebraska - that went to postseason tournaments. Abilene Christian and Colorado State won conference titles and had a combined record of 57-6 last year. CSU won the Mountain West and played in the NCAA National Tournament, while ACU won the Southland Conference regular-season title and appeared in the WNIT. Nebraska also earned a berth in the WNIT.
Leading the Way
Mikaela Shaw leads the Mavericks in points (15.3), rebounds (7.7), assists (4.5) and blocked shots (1.0). Shaw had her 21st career double-double last Friday against Indiana State with 10 points and 14 rebounds. She scored a season-high against Wofford on Sunday with 21 points.
Big Time
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. She followed up that performance with 18 points and two boards against Nebraska on Tuesday.
Doing It All
Remy Davenport has done a little bit of everything this year for Omaha. The junior guard is averaging 7.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in the first month of the season. Davenport scored a season-best 12 points against Abilene Christian and tied a career-high six assists against Wofford.
Shaw-some
Mikaela Shaw had her first double-double of the season and 22nd of her career on Friday afternoon against Indiana State. The senior forward had 10 points, and a season-best 14 rebounds against the Sycamores. Last Sunday, Shaw reached double-digit points for the 37th consecutive game by scoring 21 points against Wofford. Since the transition to NCAA Division I, only Shaw and Paige Frauendorfer have over 10 double-doubles. Frauendorfer accomplished the task 17 times in two seasons at the Division I level.
In the Paint
Redshirt sophomore center Courtney Vaccher is averaging 6.2 points, 5.7 boards and 1.3 steals per game in her first season with the Mavericks. She grabbed a season-high eight boards against Abilene Christian and North Texas. Vaccher scored a season-high eight points against Wofford last Sunday.
Super Sub
Junior guard Marissa Preston has appeared in every game and averages 20.3 minutes per game. Preston is shooting 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the field and 58.8 percent (10-of-17) from beyond the 3-point arc. She five rebounds and five assists against Wofford last Sunday which tied her career-best marks.
Fantastic Freshman
Jay Bridgeman set career-highs in points (nine) and boards (five) against Wofford. The Omaha, Neb. native is averaging 4.8 points and 2.2 rebounds through six games this season.
More Moriah
Moriah Dapprich had nine points on 4-of-7 shooting last Sunday afternoon. The redshirt junior guard grabbed a career-best eight rebounds earlier in the week against Nebraska.
Top 10 Performer
Mikaela Shaw has cracked the top 10 in all-time scoring and rebounding this season. She passed Elaine Johnson (1974-77) for ninth place on the career scoring chart with 1,362 points and is closing in on Alyssa Green's (2006-9) 1,410 points for eighth place. Shaw passed former teammate Paige Frauendorfer (2009-12) for seventh place and needs 148 rebounds to catch Laura Anderson (1984-87) for sixth place.
Shaw is the program's all-time leader in defensive rebounds with 508, surpassing Tanya Hammes' (1999-2002) mark of 502. She needs only 34 offensive boards to set the career record.
Davenport from Downtown
Junior guard Remy Davenport averaged 10.3 points per game and was one of the top 3-point shooters in the Summit League last season. This season, she has hit at least one 3-pointer in the first six games of the season and already has 11.
Davenport has made 138 career 3-pointers to rank sixth in program history and needs 76 more trey's to become the program's all-time leader. 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 opponents' 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 in senior forward Mikaela Shaw (18.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists), as well as senior guard Abi Lujan, and junior guard 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). Redshirt junior guard Marissa Preston appeared in 30 games with three starts and averaged 2.7 points per game last season.
Leader of the Pack
Last season, senior forward Mikaela Shaw led the Mavericks in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals (1.6 spg). Shaw earned First Team All-Summit League honors and was a Third Team CoSIDA Academic All-American.
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. 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
Omaha was picked to finish fifth in the 2016-17 Summit League Preseason Poll; the conference office announced last month. 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 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 returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 4, welcoming Kansas State to 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.
