This Weekend
The Omaha women's basketball team caps its four-game homestand with Kansas State this Sunday, Dec. 4. Tipoff is set for 2 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 98 points against Lincoln University on Thursday. All four 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 4-3 (0-0 Summit League) on the year and have won three 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 (14.6), rebounds (7.4), assists (4.2) and blocked shots (0.9)
• Michaela Dapprich averages 11.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 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 Kansas State Wildcats
Kansas State is 7-0 (0-0 Big 12) on the year after a 71-66 win over No. 23 Auburn on Thursday night in Manhattan, Kan. Kindred Wesemann leads the team with 15.9 points per game. Breanna Lewis adds 13.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.
Head coach Jeff Mittie is in his third season at K-State with a record of 45-27 and carries a career mark of 497-262 in 25 seasons. Sunday marks the third meeting all-time between Omaha and Kansas State.
Last Time Out: Omaha Cruises Past Lincoln University, 98-49
Omaha jumped out to a 10-0 lead and cruised to a 98-49 win over Lincoln University on Thursday night at Baxter Arena.
Ellie Brecht led all scorers with a career-high 22 points in just 19 minutes, hitting 8-of-13 field goals, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range.
Remy Davenport matched a career-high, dishing out six assists to just two turnovers, and scored 11 points along with three rebounds. Moriah Dapprich added five points and 11 boards. Jay Bridgeman had 10 points and five rebounds.
Erica Gibbons led Lincoln with 20 points and blocked two shots. Tyler Brown-Henderson chipped in nine points and four boards.
As a team, the Mavericks shot a season-high 55.9 percent (38-of-68) from the floor, 41.9 percent (13-of-31) from 3-point distance and 81.8 percent (9-of-11) from the free throw line. The Blue Tigers finished at 33.9 percent (20-of-59) from the field, 10 percent (2-of-20) from long range and 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from the stripe. UNO held the edge in rebounding (51-16) and assists (26-7).
Omaha held Lincoln scoreless for nearly three minutes while building its 10-0 lead to start the game. Davenport capped the run with a 3-pointer. Omaha led 30-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The Mavericks continued to blister the net in the second quarter shooting 66.7 percent (12-of-18) and took a 45-15 lead midway through the period on a trey from Brecht. Omaha pushed the lead to 37 points when Bridgeman scored in the paint with 1:53 left in the half. UNO took a 58-17 advantage into the intermission after a Kalen Phillips' free throw.
Omaha's third quarter performance was characterized by sharing the basketball. Eight different Mavericks scored in the period as 11 made field goals yielded seven assists. Michaela Dapprich led the way with seven points and three assists in the third. The Mavericks pushed their lead to 50 points in the closing moments of the period when Brecht converted a layup. Shamirah Johnson's 3-pointer cut the lead to 84-37 at the end of the quarter.
Omaha grabbed its largest lead of the game at 92-41 with a Phillips' layup midway through the fourth quarter. A quick 4-0 run from the Blue Tigers stopped the Maverick momentum. Abi Lujan sank a pair of free throws to make the final score 98-49.
Tough Enough
Omaha opened the 2016-17 season by playing four teams – Abilene Christian, Colorado State, Kansas 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. Kansas State finished the 2015-16 season 19-13 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Nebraska also earned a berth in the WNIT.
Leading the Way
Mikaela Shaw leads the Mavericks in points, rebounds, assists, blocked shots and minutes played. 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. The senior has been in double-figures in 38 straight games.
On Fire
Ellie Brecht scored a career-best 22 points on Thursday night against Lincoln University. The sophomore guard went 8-of-13 from the field including a 6-of-10 effort from 3-point distance. She is now 20th all-time in made treys with 58.
Hitting the Boards
Moriah Dapprich snagged a career-high 11 rebounds against Lincoln University. It's the first time this season that the junior has reached double-figures in rebounds.
Doing It All
Remy Davenport has done a little bit of everything this year for Omaha. The junior guard is averaging 7.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 4.0 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 and Lincoln.
Bridge Work
Jay Bridgeman reached double-figures for the first time in her Maverick career on Thursday night. Bridgeman was an efficient 3-for-3 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. The freshman forward added five rebounds and a blocked shot.
Arc Madness
Omaha has made 65 3-pointers in seven games while shooting 38.2 percent from deep. Ten different Mavericks have connected on at least one trifecta. UNO has made 10 or more three's four times this season.
Shaw-some
Mikaela Shaw had her first double-double of the season and 22nd of her career against Indiana State. The senior forward had 10 points, and a season-best 14 rebounds against the Sycamores. 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.
Working in the Paint
Redshirt sophomore center Courtney Vaccher is averaging 6.4 points, 5.4 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 averaging 19.9 minutes per game. Preston is shooting 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the field and 55.6 percent (10-of-18) from beyond the 3-point arc. Her five rebounds and five assists against Wofford tied her career-best marks.
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 1,372 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 142 rebounds to catch Laura Anderson (1984-87) for sixth place.
Shaw is the program's all-time leader in defensive rebounds with 511, surpassing Tanya Hammes' (1999-2002) mark of 502. She needs only 31 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 141 career 3-pointers to rank sixth in program history and needs 73 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 Wednesday, Dec. 7, visiting Creighton. Tipoff is set for noon at D.J. Sokol Arena on Creighton's campus. 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.
