Tipping Off
After opening their home stand with a close loss to first place South Dakota State, the Mavericks will regroup and take on South Dakota this Saturday at 12 p.m. to complete the first half of their conference slate.

The game can be heard on 1180 The Zone with Jon Schriner on the call. It will also be televised live on Cox YurView (channel 13). Links to live stats, audio and video are available on OMavs.com.

Quick Hits

• The Mavericks nearly handed the Jackrabbits their first conference loss of the season after initially taking a 36-33 lead at halftime, only for SDSU to retake the lead and stave off one last Omaha comeback attempt. The loss dropped the Mavericks to 9-10 on the season and 4-4 in conference play.
• Though South Dakota State outshot Omaha overall at 26-for-61 (42.6%) to 25-for-66 (37.9%), the Mavericks held a slight edge on three-pointers at 7-for-19 (36.8%) to 7-for-20 (35.0%). Both teams also topped 40 rebounds, with the Jackrabbits coming out ahead at 42 to 40.
• Elena Pilakouta followed up her historic performance last Saturday that saw her score her 1000th point by continuing her run of dominance as she led the Mavericks with 17 points vs. SDSU, reaching double-digits for the fifth game in a row and 15th time this season. With 255 points (13.4 PPG) this year, Pilakouta is currently seventh in the Summit League in scoring.
• Fresh off scoring a career-high 19 points last Saturday, Kennedi Grant came close to reaching that mark as she was tied with Pilakouta for the team lead with 17 points on Thursday, shooting 7-for-19 (36.8%).
• Grace Cave set a new career high in rebounds for the second game in a row with a team-leading 10 rebounds on Thursday. She now has an even 100 on the season, second to only Pilakouta (120) on the team. She also had two steals vs. SDSU, earning her first multi-steal game in conference play, and now has 34 on the year, good for fourth in the league.
• Akili Felici extended her streak of games with a three-pointer to four straight after coming off the bench and nailing one from deep on her first shot for her 12th of the season and six in the last four games.

Scouting the Coyotes
The Coyotes are neck and neck with Omaha in the Summit League standings at 8-10 with a 4-3 conference record. Since starting 3-0 in league play, USD has since gone 1-4, most recently falling 59-118 to SDSU. Last season, South Dakota went 29-6 with a 17-1 conference record, winning the Summit League Championship with a 56-45 win over SDSU, before advancing all the way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, beating Ole Miss (75-61) and Baylor (61-47) before falling to Michigan (49-52).

Sophomore guard and 2021-22 Summit League Sixth Woman of the Year Grace Larkins has successfully made the jump from a bench role to a starting one, already topping all of her stats from last season as she currently leads the Coyotes in nearly every category. Prior to Thursday, she ranks in the top five in the league in points (316), PPG (17.6), rebounds (118), RPG (6.6), FG% (.413), FT% (.824), assists (76), and steals (36). Larkins also has two double-doubles and has twice topped 30 points, most recently dropping 30 vs. NDSU.

Redshirt sophomore guard Alexi Hempe ranks second on the team with 153 points (8.5 PPG). On opening day, she set a career high with 18 points vs. Midland and earned her first career double-double vs. Oral Roberts in December with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Head Coach Kayla Karius is in the first season of her first head coaching job, previously being an assistant coach with the Coyotes, as well as Wisconsin and Drake. In both of her prior seasons with USD from 2016-18, the Coyotes had two WNIT berths and a Summit League regular season title.

All-Time Against South Dakota
The Mavericks trail the Coyotes 35-51 all-time, going 2-19 in the Division I era but having a slight edge in the Division II era at 33-32. Omaha's last win over USD was a 64-58 triumph in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Summit League Tournament. Since then, the Coyotes have won 10 straight. In two losses last season, Cave scored 14 points and had 10 total rebounds and four steals.