FARGO, N.D. - In the second game of their road trip, the Mavericks went to Fargo to take on North Dakota State, hanging on for three quarters before a massive final period by the Bison put them away 83-71 Saturday afternoon.
Omaha drops to 8-9 overall and 3-3 in the Summit League, remaining in the middle of the pack in the standings, while the Bison improved to 12-5 with a 7-1 conference mark to stay in second place.
Leaders For Omaha
The big story today was the immaculate performance by Elena Pilakouta, who shot a perfect 13-for-13 from the floor and racked up a season-high 28 points. Her 13 field goals tie her for eighth on Omaha's all-time leader board for single-game field goals made. This also marks her 50th career double-digit scoring game and her 13th of the season, tying her total from 2018-19 for the most she has had in a single season. Furthermore, Pilakouta retakes the team lead with 220 points on the season and is now just three points away from joining the 1000 point club.
Aaliyah Stanley had a slow start, but ultimately earned her fifth consecutive game with double-digit points with 13 today. In just her last five games alone, Stanley has scored 99 points to nearly double her season total to 214.
Kennedi Grant continues to perform well since returning from injury, notching 11 points, three assists and a team-high four steals. This is her eighth double-digit scoring game this year.
Leaders for North Dakota State
The Bison had two players top 20 points today, with Heaven Hamling leading the way with 26 thanks to six three-pointers, followed by Elle Evans who sunk four from behind the arc to reach 20 points.
Team Stats
The Mavericks had their highest FG% in their entire Division I history today as they shot 59.6% (28-for-47). This is also the second highest FG% in program history, falling just 0.1% shy of the record set on December 13, 2002.
Though the Bison were outshot overall (45.6%, 26-for-57), they did hold a huge advantage in 3-PT FG% (45.2%, 14-for-31 vs. 20.0%, 2-for-10) and FT% (85.0%, 17-for-20 vs. 76.5%, 13-for-17). They also beat Omaha in rebounds (30 to 19), but thanks to Pilakouta, the Mavericks firmly outscored them in the paint (40 to 24).
Inside the First Quarter
It was all Pilakouta in the first period as she shot 5-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from the line to score all 12 of Omaha's points through the first seven minutes.
Morgann Gardner was then subbed in for Pilakouta and almost immediately made a layup to give the Mavericks a 14-12 lead. The Bison fought back over the last three minutes to end up with a 21-17 lead, but Grant came in big time with the buzzer beater for her first bucket of the day to get Omaha back within two.
Inside the Second Quarter
After being outscored 8-2 through the first three minutes of the second, the Mavericks went on a 7-0 scoring run, beginning with the first three-pointer of the day for Grant and capped off by a pair of free throws from Stanley at 5:16 to make it 28-29.
North Dakota State then responded with its third 3-PT FG of the period to go up by five with five minutes remaining. A free throw from Grace Cave and another Pilakouta layup cut the deficit down to one point, but the Bison got their fourth three-pointer of the quarter to extend their lead back to four points.
With 14 seconds left in the half, Pilakouta managed to keep it a four-point game with her eighth layup.
Inside the Third Quarter
Stanley got the Mavericks on the board with back-to-back layups to begin the third, followed by Pilakouta's ninth basket of the day. After a jumper from Cave made it 41-42 at 6:18, the Bison, like they had done all day, broke Omaha's rally and quickly reestablished a five-point lead.
Cave would pick up three more points on a free throw and a jumper, before Pilakouta remained perfect with her 10th basket of the day at 0:41 to give her 22 points through the first three quarters.
Inside the Fourth Quarter
It only took a minute and 20 for Pilakouta to record her 11th bucket of the game as Omaha still trailed North Dakota State 52-58. Unfortunately, the Bison continued to be highly efficient from deep as they picked up three more buckets from deep to take their largest lead yet at 65-54 with 6:12 left.
Despite five more points from Stanley and Pilakouta's 12th and 13th baskets, the Mavericks were unable to shut down the Bison's late surge as they racked up 10 more points in the next four minutes to take a 12-point lead and effectively finish off the game with 28 fourth quarter points.
Next Up
The Mavericks will wrap up their road trip with their third game in five days when they head to Colorado for a makeup game with Denver on Monday at 2 p.m. The two teams were originally scheduled to meet on December 21, but the game was canceled due to weather.
