FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Omaha women's basketball team rallied from a 13-point deficit to tie it in the second half but came up short in its game at Fort Wayne Wednesday afternoon, falling 65-62 at the Gates Sports Center. The Mavericks are now 10-11 (3-5 Summit League), while the Mastodons moved to 4-17 (1-7 Summit League).
Senior forward Mikaela Shaw led the Mavericks with a game-high 23 points, six rebounds and five assists. Senior forward Michaela Dapprich had 10 points, while sophomore center Courtney Vaccher added a career-best 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Sophomore guard Amber Vidal and junior guard Marissa Preston each had six points. Vidal added five assists and two steals.
De'Jour Young led the Mastodons with 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals, and Zaria Atkins went for 15 points and six assists. Rachel Rinehart added 14 points, while Anna Lappenkuper had 11.
As a team, Omaha shot 49.1 percent (26-of-53) from the floor to Fort Wayne's 41.8 percent (23-of-55). The Mavericks finished at 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from beyond the arc, while the Mastodons came in at 41.7 percent (5-of-12). UNO managed to shoot 60 percent (6-of-10) from the free throw line, while IPFW finished at 77.8 percent (14-of-18) from the stripe.
Fort Wayne forced 20 Omaha turnovers and turned them into 24 points, while committing only nine turnovers resulting in 10 UNO points. The Mavericks held a 35-22 advantage on the boards.
The Mastodons took advantage of five early Maverick turnovers to build an 11-4 lead midway through the first quarter. The lead grew to 12 points late in the period before a Dapprich jumper made the score 18-8 at the end of the frame.
Fort Wayne took its biggest lead of the game early in the second quarter on a layup from Rinehart, 23-10. Omaha responded with an 8-0 run over the next 1:12 to cut the lead to five thanks to four points each from Shaw and Vidal. A 3-pointer from sophomore guard Ellie Brecht and a jumper from Dapprich evened the game 29-all with 2:43 left in the first half. A Young jumper in the closing seconds of the half put the Mastodons on top 31-29 at the half.
Omaha started the second half strong, taking a 38-36 lead on a 3-pointer from Davenport with 6:25 left in the third quarter. Back-to-back layups from Shaw and Vaccher pushed Omaha's lead to six points (42-36). Moments later Fort Wayne countered with an 8-2 run, capped by a jumper from Lappenkuper to tie the game at 44-all with under two minutes remaining. The Mavericks answered with a Preston trey to take a 47-44 lead into the fourth.
Fort Wayne tied the game in the first minute of the final frame. Neither team would build a lead of more than two points until the final two minutes. A Dapprich basket with 1:28 remaining put Omaha ahead 57-56. Fort Wayne regained the lead with 1:03 left on the clock on an Atkins 3-pointer. Rinehardt converted three of four free throws build the lead to 62-58 with 22 seconds remaining. A Shaw jumper drew Omaha within two points, but the Mastodons were able to make their free throws in the final seconds to secure the win 65-62.
Omaha returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 28, hosting South Dakota State at 2 p.m. Donny Baarns will have the call on 1180 AM Zone 2, and links to live stats, audio and video will be available on OMavs.com.
