OMAHA, Neb. - The Mavericks opened the second week of their home stand with a 64-55 loss to Kansas City Thursday night at Baxter Arena. The two teams officially split the season series after Omaha picked up the first win on the road back in December.
The Mavericks drop to 9-12 overall and 4-6 in the Summit League, while the Roos improve to 7-14 on the season and 3-7 in league play.
Leaders For Omaha
Elena Pilakouta was once again Omaha's leading scorer as she hit 16 points tonight (6-for-11, .545) for her 17th double-digit scoring game of the season and her 7th in a row.
Kennedi Grant was the leading rebounder with seven boards, as well as recording a team-high four steals. She also dropped nine points to move within 15 of 200 on the season.
Polina Nikulochkina broke her four-game scoreless streak with nine points tonight, along with five rebounds and a steal.
Leaders for South Dakota
E'Lease Stafford led all players with 23 points, including three from behind the arc. She also led the team with three steals. Machia Mullens earned a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Rain Green and Manna Mensah had 12 and 15 points, respectively.
Team Stats
The Roos outshot the Mavericks across the board, topping them in FG% (47.2%, 25-for-53 to 33.9%, 20-for-59), 3-PT FG% (50.0%, 5-for-10 to 17.4%, 4-for-23), and FT% (81.8%, 9-for-11 to 61.1%, 11-for-18).
Inside the First Quarter
It was a back-and-forth start to the night as each team traded blows throughout the period. Grant scored the first six points of the day for Omaha, including her first three-pointer, before
Aaliyah Stanley notched her first from deep at 6:16 to give the Mavericks a 9-5 lead. The Roos came right back, though, and went up 10-9 just a minute later.
There were four more lead changes over the final five minutes, culminating in Grant initially tying things up 17-17 with 18 seconds left, only for Kansas City to make it a two-point game with a last second layup from Green.
Inside the Second Quarter
Omaha opened the second with five-straight points, book ended by jumpers from Stanley (9:45) and
Ana Nikulochkina (4:58).
It was all Roos over the final five minutes, however, as they outscored Omaha 15-3. A Nikulochkina free throw and a
Grace Cave jumper were all the offense the Mavericks got during this span as they ended the half down 35-28.
Inside the Third Quarter
Out of the half, the Mavericks were red hot as the entered the period down by seven but ended up trailing by just after outscoring the Roos 18-13.
Sam Mitchell began the rally with a three-pointer at 7:31, while
Polina Nikulochkina would later get Omaha within one with a layup at 5:40.
After Kansas City fought back to a five-point lead, Pilakouta had back-to-back layups followed by a bucket from
Katie Keitges to give Omaha their first lead of the half at 44-43 with just under two minutes left. Unfortunately, five more points from Stafford made sure the Roos were back in front by the end.
Inside the Fourth Quarter
The Mavericks managed to keep it close for most of the final quarter, getting two more huge buckets from Pilakouta and two from the stripe by Cave to make it 58-54 with 42 seconds remaining.
In the end, though, Omaha's comeback attempt was undone by four late fouls and six subsequent Kansas City free throws over the final 36 seconds.
Next Up
Omaha closes out its home stand this Saturday at 2 p.m. when they finish up the season series with Oral Roberts.
