Tipping Off
The Mavericks will look to surge up the standings and make it four wins in a row this Saturday when they host North Dakota in Baxter Arena at noon. The game can be heard on 1180 The Zone with Jon Schriner on the call. Links to live stats, audio and video are available on OMavs.com.

Quick Hits

• The Mavericks won their third game in a row on Thursday when they stunned the second-place North Dakota State Bison in a 63-58 victory in which they led for nearly the entire game. At 12-13 overall and 7-7 in the Summit League, Omaha has now matched its win total from the 2017-18 season and tied the 2012-13 and 2015-16 squads for the second most conference wins in a season in the Division I era.
• With a win against North Dakota and a South Dakota loss to South Dakota State, the Mavericks could climb from sixth place in the standings to fourth on Saturday.
• The Mavericks outshot the Bison in every category, topping them in FG% (43.1%, 22-for-51 to 35.3%, 24-for-68), 3-PT FG% (46.7%, 7-for-15 to 15.0%, 3-for-20), and FT% (85.7%, 12-for-14 to 70.0%, 7-for-10).
• Against NDSU, Elena Pilakouta went 5-for-5 for 10 points and pulled down a team high 11 rebounds for her second straight double-double and fifth this year. Pilakouta moved into 17th place in Omaha's all-time scoring leader board with 1126 career points. She scored 11 points and blocked two shots at UND last time out.
• Alongside Pilakouta, Aaliyah Stanley helped make history on Thursday as she topped 300 points on the season with 301, joining Pilakouta (349) to become the first Mavericks duo to each record 300 points in a single season since Mikaela Shaw (539) and Michaela Dapprich (430) in 2016-17. She scored 11 points and made three from behind the arc in Omaha's last game at North Dakota.
• Grace Cave tied her season high with 19 points vs. NDSU, shooting 6-for-12, including two three-pointers, and going 5-for-6 (.833) from the stripe. In doing so, she surpassed 250 points on the year as she increased her total to 258. The reigning Summit League Peak Performer of the Week also set a new conference career high with four steals. She was tied for the team lead with seven rebounds the last time she faced the Fighting Hawks.
• Kennedi Grant scored 11 points on Thursday to reach 228 on the season as she approaches the 250 point mark. She led the team with 12 points, seven rebounds, and five assists against North Dakota earlier this year. 

Scouting the Fighting Hawks
The Fighting Hawks are directly ahead of Omaha in the Summit League standings at 14-9 overall and 7-6 in the conference. On Thursday, they beat Denver 82-67 to earn their second win in a row and maintain a half-game lead over the Mavericks.

In their first game with Omaha this year, UND came back and won with only a few seconds left, despite being outshot in FG% (37.9% to 34.8%), 3-PT FG% (35.0% to 26.1%), and FT% (75.0% to 61.1%).

Senior guard Kacie Borowicz is currently second in the league with 454 points (19.7 PPG), as well as third in assists with 108 and third in FT% at .862. Facing Omaha this year, she led the Fighting Hawks with 18 points and six assists.

Graduate student forward Juliet Gordon is UND's leading rebounder with 130 total rebounds  and 5.7 RPG, with both placing her just outside the top 10 in the conference. Against the Mavericks, she led the team with seven rebounds and three blocked shots. 

Graduate student guard/forward Clair Orth leads the Bison in FG% at .510 (103-for-202) and is tied with Borowicz in steals with 32. She is also second on the team in points (252). Orth scored seven points and recorded four rebounds and two steals vs. Omaha earlier this year.

Head Coach Mallory Bernhard is in her third season at the helm of North Dakota and is the first former Fighting Hawk to ever be named head coach of the team. She currently owns a 31-43 career record

All-Time Against North Dakota
The Mavericks trail North Dakota 10-52 in the all-time series, dropping their first meeting this season 65-63 on a couple of baskets in the final 12 seconds. In that game, Polina Nikulochkina had her most points in a conference game this season with nine, while Akili Felici scored six on a pair of three-pointers.