OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha women's basketball team fell to Creighton on Wednesday afternoon at D.J. Sokol Arena, 82-45. The Mavericks dropped to 4-5 (0-0 Summit League) overall, while the Bluejays improved to 4-3 (0-0 BIG EAST).
Senior forward Mikaela Shaw led the Mavericks, scoring 13 points and grabbing a game-high eight rebounds, as well as dishing out two assists.
Freshman forward Jay Bridgeman added 11 points, and junior guard Marissa Preston chipped in six points and three assists.
Audrey Faber's 24 points led Creighton. Faber shot 7-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Bailey Norby had 10 points with two boards and two assists.
The Bluejays shot .464 (26-of-56) for the afternoon, including .516 (16-of-31) from distance. The Mavericks shot .327 (17-of-52) from the floor, including a .429 (6-of-14) effort from beyond the arc. CU also had 24 assists and forced 18 UNO turnovers.
Creighton took a 2-0 lead in the opening minute on a pair of Brianna Rollerson free throws. Omaha countered with four straight from Shaw and claimed its first lead of the game, 4-2. UNO took a five-point lead on a jumper from sophomore guard Amber Vidal and two Shaw free throws. The Bluejays evened the game at 8-8 on a basket from Ali Greene. The two teams had exchanged buckets before a Bridgeman trey put Omaha ahead 13-10. Faber scored the final three points of the period as the two teams were tied 13-13 heading into the second quarter.
Omaha was held scoreless the first 2:01 of the second period as Creighton built a seven-point lead. A jumper from sophomore center Courtney Vaccher cut the lead to 20-15 with 7:36 left in the half. The Bluejays extended it to 31-17 midway through the quarter before Shaw hit her only 3-pointer of the afternoon. Creighton shot .636 (7-of-11) from the field in the quarter and took a 38-21 advantage into intermission.
The Bluejays opened the second half on a 10-0 run to push the score to 48-21, but the Mavericks closed the third quarter on an 8-3 run to cut the CU lead to 27 points. Creighton took its largest lead of the game late in the fourth quarter at 82-42, before Preston hit a 3-pointer to make the final score 82-45.
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 10, visiting UMKC. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., and Donny Baarns will have the radio call on 1290 AM KOIL. Links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
