TULSA, Okla. - In their long-awaited Summit League opener, the Mavericks fought hard but fell short to Oral Roberts 63-75 on the road Thursday night.
Omaha is now 5-7 on the year and begins its conference slate at 0-1. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles improve to 4-10 as they notch their first conference win of the season to move to 1-3.
Leaders For Omaha
Polina Nikulochkina had her finest game yet as she topped double-digit points for the first time with a team-leading 19 tonight. Shooting 7-for-12 (58.3%), she sunk four 3-PT FGs from the left corner, giving her the most three-pointers in a single game for a Maverick this season.
Grace Cave was right behind Nikulochkina with 18 points after going 8-for-18 (44.4%). She also led the team with five assists.
Rounding out Omaha's double-digit scorers is
Elena Pilakouta who scored 11 points while also pulling down 12 rebounds to earn her second double-double of the season.
Leaders for Oral Roberts
Hannah Cooper led the Golden Eagles with 19 points going 5-for-15 (33.3%) on field goals and a perfect 7-for-7 from the stripe. Ruthie Udoumoh (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Tirzah Moore (12 points, 11 rebounds) both picked up double-doubles for ORU, with Udoumoh also leading them with four steals and four assists.
Team Stats
Both teams were tied in 3-PT FGs as each went 6-for-22 (27.3%). The Golden Eagles held a slim advantage in shooting overall (26-for-62, 41.9% to 23-for-59, 39.0%), but had a huge lead in free throws at 94.4% (17-for-18) vs. 78.6% (11-for-14) for Omaha.
ORU also out-rebounded Omaha at 40 to 32.
Inside the First Quarter
Omaha came out strong to open the night, taking an 11-2 lead in the first three minutes. Cave got the Mavericks on the board with a jumper at 9:22, before tossing a dime to Pilakouta who made one in the paint to give Omaha a 4-2 lead at 8:31. Nikulochkina followed up with five points in under a minute, including the first three-pointer for either team tonight, while Pilakouta capped off the 11-0 scoring run by pulling down an offensive rebound and making her second layup.
The Golden Eagles did manage to come back and take a 12-11 lead after scoring 10 unanswered from 6:17-3:46, but the Mavericks regained the lead thanks to a 3-PT FG from
Katie Keitges at 2:09. Omaha's defense also did well to limit the damage during ORU's run, picking up nine defensive rebounds, with
Aaliyah Stanley accounting for three of them.
Inside the Second Quarter
The second period was a low-scoring affair for both squads. After a scoreless first couple of minutes that saw
Morgann Gardner record an early steal and a pair of defensive rebounds for Pilakouta and
Sam Mitchell, Pilakouta broke the stalemate with her fourth layup of the day at 7:44.
It would than take over five minutes for Omaha to get back on the board after Cave drained one with less then three minutes left in the quarter. During this scoreless streak, the Golden Eagles retook the lead with nine unanswered, entering halftime up 31-23.
Inside the Third Quarter
Nikulochkina and Cave provided Omaha with all the offense it needed in the first half of the period, scoring all 14 points for the Mavericks. Cave scored six on a pair of jumpers and a layup, while Pilakouta had eight points, including two 3-PT FGs from the left corner to briefly regain the lead for Omaha.
After a trio of free throws from Stanley, Cave kept things close for Omaha with her fourth bucket of the period at 1:51 to make it 42-44.
Inside the Fourth Quarter
Down by 51-42 to open the final quarter, the Mavericks received an early boost on Keitges' second three-pointer of the night. A few seconds later, a Nikulochkina steal set up yet another layup from Cave who also made the and-one to cut ORU's lead to five points just a minute in.
This would be as close as Omaha would get to catching up to ORU, however, as the Golden Eagles went on a 10-2 run leading into the final media timeout to take their biggest lead of the day at 63-50. Though the Mavericks would mount one last comeback over the final four minutes, including the fourth three-pointer of the night for Nikulochkina, the effort ultimately fell short.
Next Up
The Mavericks will close out their road trip this Saturday at 2 p.m. when they head to Kansas City to take on the Roos in their final game of 2022.
