SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota – The No. 6 Omaha women's basketball team won its first Summit League tournament game, beating No. 3 IUPUI 62-51 on Sunday afternoon at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls. With the win, Omaha improved to 15-14 overall, IUPUI closes its season with a 20-10 mark.
The Mavericks advance to the tournament semifinal against No. 2 South Dakota State on Monday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised on Midco and ESPN3. The winner will move on to the 2016 Summit League Finals on Tuesday.
Four Mavericks scored in double figures led by junior Mikaela Shaw's game-high 22 points. Shaw was 7-of-13 from the floor and went 7-of-9 from the free throw line. She grabbed six rebounds, dished out three assists, and had three steals.
Freshman Caroline Hogue continued her excellent play on the inside, scoring 10 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. Hogue also blocked four shots. Junior Abi Lujan added 10 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Remy Davenport had 11 points and four assists.
The Mavericks shot 40 percent from the floor (22-of-55), including a 41.7 percent (5-of-12) clip from 3-point range. Omaha shot 68.4 percent (13-of-19) from the free throw line. The Jaguars managed to shoot only 31.7 percent (20-of-63) from the floor, including a 26.1 percent (6-of-23) effort from long range. IUPUI hit 62.5 percent (5-for-8) of its foul shots.
Omaha took the early lead on Shaw's first basket of the game, but fell behind thanks to a 7-0 IUPUI run. The Mavericks fought back to tie the game at 9-9 just after the media timeout. The two teams played through three more ties as the quarter came to an end knotted at 15-15.
The second quarter featured more back-and-forth play between the two teams. IUPUI would go up by four points three different times in the quarter, only to see Omaha comeback and tie things back up. With 1:29 left in the half, Hogue took an entry pass from Davenport to give the Mavericks their first lead since early in the game at 31-29. A minute later, IUPUI evened things up on a basket from Shaquira Scott. As time expired in the first half, Martha Burse appeared to give the Jaguars a lead with a layup. After reviewing the play, officials decided Burse got the shot off in time to give IUPUI a 33-31 lead at the half.
IUPUI continued to keep Omaha at arm's length early in the second half. The pivotal point of the game came with the Mavericks trailing 39-35 with 6:03 left in the third quarter. IUPUI's Kelsi Byrd attempted a three-pointer late in the shot clock, but was blocked by Shaw who then grabbed the rebound and raced down the floor for a layup. On the play, Shaw was fouled and was able to complete the old fashioned three-point play cutting the lead to 39-38 with 4:04 left in the quarter. With momentum behind them, Omaha forced IUPUI into a bad shot and Shaw again grabbed the rebound. Once more she outraced the Jaguar defense for an easy layup, giving Omaha a one point lead, 40-39. IUPUI managed to score the final four points of the quarter clinging to a 43-40 lead.
Undeterred by the Jaguars' effort, Omaha opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run and took a 48-43 lead with 6:07 remaining. Lujan scored five straight for the Mavericks during the run, which was capped off by a Davenport free throw. Omaha was able to stretch its lead to nine points with 3:29 left in regulation on back-to-back buckets from Shaw and Hogue. IUPUI struck back with a pair of 3-pointers, but each time Omaha was able to answer the challenge. The Mavericks went 5-for-8 at the free throw line in the final 61 seconds as the Jaguars were forced to foul. Shaw's free throw with 37 seconds remaining made the final score 62-51.
