Tipping Off
Down to the final two games of the regular season, the Mavericks will look to make up ground in the standings as they close out their final road trip with a 2 p.m. game at South Dakota State this Saturday.

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

• Omaha fell into a huge hole halfway through the second quarter at South Dakota on Thursday, trailing 25-6. The Mavericks rallied over next 10 minutes to eventually get within five points at 34-29, but the Coyotes' offense erupted over the final 15 minutes en route to a 61-41 victory.
• At 12-15 overall and 7-9 in the conference, the Mavericks sit in sixth place in the standings and need to win out and hope for North Dakota State, South Dakota, and Oral Roberts to lose out in order to claim the number three seed.
• The Mavericks were outshot by the Coyotes on field goals at 25.5% (12-for-47) to 45.2% (19-for-42) and 3-PT FGs at 20.0% (4-for-20) to 40.0% (8-for-20). 
• Kennedi Grant scored more than half of Omaha's total points on Thursday with a career-high 21 points. She shot 7-for-13 (.539) and also recorded two steals and blocked a shot. Grant also topped 250 points on the season (255).
• Elena Pilakouta is currently at 1138 points in her career and needs 28 more to move into 16th place on the all-time scoring leader board. At 361 points (13.4 PPG) on the season, she will need to score 39 points over the final two games of the regular season to become the first Maverick since 2017 to top 400 points. In addition to ranking in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding (186), Pilakouta remains first in FG% at .620.
• Likewise, Grace Cave is sitting at 267 points on the season after scoring seven more on Thursday. She is only 33 points away from joining Pilakouta and Aaliyah Stanley in the 300-point club, which would make them the first Mavericks trio in the Division I era to each top 300 points. Cave is also top-10 in the Summit League in assists (77) and steals (45).

Scouting the Jackrabbits
The Jackrabbits remain undefeated in Summit League play at 15-0 and are 22-5 overall. They began their week with a 82-34 win over Denver on Thursday.

Against Omaha this year, SDSU faced one if its toughest opponents yet, only outscoring the Mavericks in a single quarter and making just one more field goal (26 to 25). Outside of the third quarter, the Jackrabbits were outscored 53-44. 

Redshirt senior forward Myah Selland remains one of the best all-around players in the Summit League as she breaks into the top 10 in the conference in points (430), PPG (16.0), rebounds (172), RPG (6.4), FG% (.525), FT% (.823), and steals (41). In her first game against Omaha this season, Selland totaled 12 points and pulled down nine rebounds, as well as recording four assists. 

Junior forward Kallie Theisen is SDSU's top blocker rebounder with 174 boards and their top blocker with 25 blocked shots this year, both of which rank in the top 10 in the league. Thesien had four points and four boards at Omaha back in January.

Head Coach Aaron Johnston is in his 23rd year leading the Jackrabbits, becoming the program's winningest coach in history with a 564-184 record, as well as the winningest coach in Summit League history with 379. He has also guided the program to 10 NCAA tournaments and five WNIT appearances.

All-Time Against South Dakota State
The Mavericks are 34-47 all-time against the Jackrabbits, going just 2-21 against them in the Division I era, but were 32-26 back in Division II. In their first meeting this season, the Mavericks nearly pulled off a massive upset as they led the Jackrabbits 36-33 at halftime, only to come undone in the third period and fall 68-61. Katie Keitges, Sam Mitchell, and Akili Felici combined to go 4-for-6 from behind the arc during the game.