OMAHA, Neb. – The Omaha women's basketball team won their last home game of the 2015-16 season with a come from behind victory against IUPUI on Thursday evening at Baxter Arena, 57-54. The Mavericks improved to 13-13 overall and 6-8 in Summit League play. The Jaguars fall to 18-8 overall and 9-4 in league play.
On a night the program honored senior Bobbi Beckwith, it was freshman Caoline Hogue who led the Mavericks with a team high 13 points, nine rebounds, seven blocked shots, and four assists. Beckwith and Mikaela Shaw each had 11 points for the Mavericks. Remy Davenport added nine points, while Abi Lujan had four points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Danielle Lawrence had a game-high 18 points to lead IUPUI. Sydney Hall chipped in 10 points, while Mikale Rogers had nine.
Trailing IUPUI early on 4-2, Omaha went on a 9-0 run to take an 11-4 lead midway through the first quarter. A Davenport jumper kick started the UNO run, which was capped off by an Ellie Brecht 3-pointer. Kelsi Byrd hit a 3-pointer with 4:34 left in the quarter to stop the Omaha momentum and make the score 11-7. The Mavericks were not quieted for long as Beckwith hit back-to-back three's. A Lujan layup put Omaha up 12 at the end of the first quarter, 19-7.
The Mavericks kept scoring in the second quarter as they built a 17 point lead. Hogue scored the first five Omaha points of the period on two buckets and a free throw for a 24-7 lead. Six straight points from Lawrence and a lay-up from Akilah Sims cut Omaha's lead to 11 with 6:01 left in the half, 26-15. UNO would out score IUPUI 8-4 the remainder of the quarter. Again Hogue started the Maverick momentum with a jumper in the paint. A lay-up from Amber Vidal pushed the Omaha lead to 15 at the half, 34-19.
IUPUI opened the second half on a 15-0 run and tied the game at 34-34 with under five minutes remaining in the third quarter. A Brecht 3-pointer stopped the Jaguar run and put UNO back in front. Neither team could pull away from the other the rest of the quarter, until a Hogue free throw put Omaha up as the third quarter came to an end, 41-40.
UNO pushed its lead to four points early in the fourth quarter as Beckwith connected on her third 3-pointer of the game. IUPUI responded with a three from Hall and took the lead with 7:57 left in regulation on a pair of free throws by Sims, 45-44. The two teams again exchanged buckets, but neither team could extend its lead to more than a few points. IUPUI managed its largest lead of the game as Rogers hit a jumper in the paint with 3:10 remaining, 54-50. Davenport hit a crucial jumper a minute later to cut the lead to two. Hogue blocked a Jenna Gunn jumper with 38 seconds left to give Omaha a chance to tie or take the lead. Davenport took a Marissa Preston pass and nailed her first 3-pointer of the evening to give the Mavericks a one point lead with 20 seconds left, 55-54. IUPUI had a chance to tie with eight seconds left on the clock, but Hogue was able to block Lawrence's shot out of bounds. After calling a timeout, IUPUI had a second chance to tie things up, but a Jaguar player stepped out of bounds giving the ball to Omaha. Shaw hit a pair of free throws with 0.4 seconds left on the clock to make the final, 57-54.
Omaha shot 44.7 percent (21-of-47) from the field compared to 34.3 percent (23-of-67) by IUPUI. The Jaguars only made 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from 3-point range, while the Mavericks were 35.3 percent (6-for-17) from deep. IUPUI was perfect (6-for-6) from the free throw line, while UNO shot 75 percent (9-for-12) from the line. Each team finished with 33 rebounds, while Omaha led in blocked shots 9-6.
The Mavericks win keeps them in sixth place in the Summit League standings, while the Jaguars remain in third place. Omaha clinches a spot in the Summit League post season tournament in its first year after transitioning to Division I. The post season tournament is held at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The dates for the championships are March 5-8.
Omaha will take to the road to finish the 2015-16 regular season next week. The Mavericks visit Oral Roberts on Thursday, Feb. 25. Tip-off from the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Okla. is set for 7 p.m. From there, UNO visits Denver on the final day of the regular season. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. (CT) from Magness Arena.
