OMAHA, Neb. - After nearly going the distance against first place South Dakota State on Thursday, the Mavericks had another gutsy performance as they almost notched a win over South Dakota on Saturday, but came up just short at 63-70.

The Mavericks are now 9-11 overall and 4-5 in the Summit League, still remaining comfortably in the middle of the pack in the standings. As for the Coyotes, they are right ahead of Omaha in the standings at 9-10 with a 4-4 conference record.

Leaders For Omaha  
Grace Cave just missed having her first 20-point performance of the season as she led the Mavericks with a season-high 19 today, shooting 8-for-12 (66.66%), including 3-of-4 from deep. She now has exactly 200 points on the season and 10.0 PPG. Cave was also Omaha's leading rebounder for the third game in a row with eight boards.

After falling short of her seventh double-digit scoring game on Thursday, Aaliyah Stanley returned to form and dropped 16 today, along with a team-high four assists, as she topped 10 points for the 10th time this year. 

Elena Pilakouta remained hot as she scored 14 points and went a perfect 7-for-7 on field goals to raise her FG% back over .600 at .612. This was her 16th double-digit scoring game of the season and her sixth in a row. Pilakouta had three blocked shots as well, doing so for the first time since November 29, 2021 at UIC.

Leaders for South Dakota
Grace Larkins and Carley Duffney each topped 20 points today with 24 and 22, respectively. Larkins also led the Coyotes with nine rebounds and three assists.
 
Team Stats  
Omaha outshot South Dakota overall at 42.1% (24-for-57) vs. 39.7% (25-for-63). However, the Coyotes finished on top in 3-PT FG% (34.8%, 8-for-23 vs. 23.1%, 6-for-26) and FT% (70.6%, 12-for-17 vs. 69.2%, 9-for-13). 

The Coyotes also out-rebounded the Mavericks 40 to 35 and only turned it over six times vs. 12 times by Omaha.

Inside the First Quarter  
Just like on Thursday, the Mavericks came out strong and ended the first quarter with a solid lead at 22-17. Cave and Stanley each made two from behind the arc, with Cave accounting for almost half of Omaha's scoring in the first with 10 points.

Omaha's defense also managed to slow down the Coyotes with eight defensive boards, including two from Pilakouta who also opened the day with a huge block on the first shot of the day from South Dakota.

Inside the Second Quarter  
Starting with a trio from the line from Stanley, the Mavericks opened the second quarter with an 8-0 scoring run that put them up 30-17 just under three minutes in.

In the rest of the half, though, the Coyotes outscored Omaha 14-7, with another three-pointer from Stanley and layups from Cave and Pilakouta making up all the Mavericks' offense. 

Inside the Third Quarter  
The Coyotes completely took over the court to begin the second half, nearly doubling Omaha's score at 21-11. After an opening jumper from Pilakouta, USD's offense came alive and picked up 10 more points by the five-minute mark to cut Omaha's lead to 43-41.

Out of the break, a layup from Cave and one from the line from Kennedi Grant made a five-point game again. Over the final three and a half minutes, though, the Coyotes went on another offensive run that saw them outscore the Mavericks 11-2 and end the period up 52-48.

Inside the Fourth Quarter
Layups from Stanley and Katie Keitges managed to tie things up at 52-52 just a minute into the fourth. Unfortunately, the Mavericks were unable to find a good rhythm on offense could not score multiple baskets in a row for the remainder of the period. 

Despite five more points from Cave and four from Pilakouta, fouls kept getting in the way and breaking the momentum as the Coyotes made seven from the line over the last five minutes to close out the game on top.
 
Next Up  
The Mavericks begin the second half of conference play next week when they continue their home stand with two more games, starting with Kansas City on Thursday at 7 p.m.