St. Paul, MN. – The Omaha Mavericks took down the St. Thomas Tommies 61-55 in the Summit League opener Monday night in St. Paul, Minnesota. Elena Pilakouta led the way for the Mavericks with 18 points to give Omaha their first ever victory over St. Thomas in the Tommies first ever Summit League matchup.
 
Leaders For Omaha
Pilakouta hauled in a team-best seven rebounds to go with her 18 points, she was joined in double digits by Lauren Frost and Katie Keitges. Frost scored 12 on five-of-eight shooting while Keitges scored 11, including three buckets from beyond the arc. Graduate Senior, Sophie Johnston, and Senior, Josie Filer, both made their season debuts for the Mavericks after missing the first nine games due to injury.

Leaders for St. Thomas
Erin Norling led the Tommies with 15 points including four three-pointers. Maggie Negaard joined her in double digits with 10 points to go along with her team-high seven rebounds.

Team Stats
Omaha outshot St. Thomas shooting 45.2 (19-42) percent from the field to the Tommies 39.7 (23-58) percent. St. Thomas doubled the Mavericks effort from the three-point line with eight three-pointers and outrebounded Omaha 33-29. The Mavericks scored 22 points off of 19 Tommies turnovers and outscored St. Thomas in the paint 28-24.

Inside the First Quarter
Both teams came out fairly slow on the offensive end. Pilakouta scored the first six Maverick points, Omaha would take a six point lead after buckets from Alexis Pratt, Frost and Grace Cave. The Tommies came firing back to tie it up 14-14 at the end of the quarter.
 
Inside the Second Quarter
The Mavericks were held without a bucket in the second until a Pratt free-throw with 6:29 left in the period to make the score 16-15 St. Thomas. Both teams traded baskets in the latter half of the quarter with the Tommies scoring the final four points of the period to take the 26-23 lead at the half.

 Inside the Third Quarter
Omaha started the third quarter on an 8-2 run thanks to buckets from Pilakouta, Frost and a very deep three from Keitges. Later a Johnston three and two Frost free throws would extend the Maverick lead to 40-36 heading into the fourth.

Inside the Fourth Quarter
Both teams played better on the offensive end in the fourth, Negaard drained two straight shots from deep for the Tommies to shrink the Omaha lead to 46-45 with 6:46 remaining. Both teams traded baskets before a Frost jumper put Omaha on top 56-52 with 1:24 remaining. The Mavericks got several stops and defense and drained their free throws in the final minute to take the 61-55 lead.

Next Up
The Mavericks will stay on the road and head to Macomb, Illinois to take on Western Illinois. The two teams will face off Wednesday at 6 p.m.