SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - In the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament, the No. 6 Mavericks did what they could not do all season and defeated the No. 3 Fighting Hawks 84-81 in a stunning upset to move on to Monday's semifinals match with No. 10 Kansas City.

Omaha will be playing in the Summit League Tournament semifinals for the fourth time ever, last time doing so in the 2020-21 season in which they defeated Western Illinois 69-55 to reach the finals. This was the first time in Summit League Tournament history that a No. 6 seed has upset the No. 3 seed. 
 
Leaders For Omaha  
Elena Pilakouta already had six double-doubles this year, but tonight she earned her seventh in the biggest game yet with 14 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. In doing so, she has reached 1,179 career points, tying her with Paige Frauendorfer for 14th all-time at Omaha. She also crossed 400 points on the season, becoming the first Maverick to do so since the 2016-17 season.

Kennedi Grant, in her first ever conference tournament game, led Omaha in scoring with 18 points, making six field goals and six free throws. She is now just four points shy of reaching 300 points on the season.

Meanwhile, Grace Cave ended the day with exactly 300 points after scoring 11 more today, including 6-of-7 from the line. In crossing this milestone, she joins Pilakouta and Aaliyah Stanley (341 points) as the third Maverick to reach 300 this year. Together, they become the first Mavericks trio to ever score at least 300 points each in a single season during the Division I era.

Katie Keitges set a new career-high with four steals today to lead the Mavericks. 

Leaders for North Dakota
Kacie Borowicz led all players today with 36 points and 14 field goals, as well as five assists. Juliet Gordon performed well too, recording a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Team Stats  
Omaha topped North Dakota in every shooting category, holding slim leads in FG% (45.0% vs. 44.6%), 3-PT FG% (31.3% vs. 23.3%) and FT% (80.6% vs. 80.0%). Both teams were also dead even in rebounds (38 for Omaha, 37 for UND), points in the paint (38 each), and points off turnovers (15 for Omaha, 14 for UND). 

Inside the First Quarter  
After a scoreless first two minutes, Stanley broke the ice with a pull up jumper to get Omaha started. A couple driving layups from Grant helped grow Omaha's early lead to 9-4 almost halfway through.
 
The Fighting Hawks, however, had a strong response as they went on an 11-0 run for the next three minutes to go up 15-9 with under three minutes left. Thanks in part to Morgann Gardner's first basket of the day with 21 seconds remaining, Omaha came back to send it to the second tied at 15-15.
 
Inside the Second Quarter
It was not long before Omaha retook the lead as a pair of layups from Gardner helped make it 21-19 after less than 90 seconds. UND managed to briefly come back on top with a couple of three-pointers, but Keitges and Cave responded with back-to-back buckets from deep at 5:34 and 5:01 to make it 30-25 Omaha.
 
North Dakota fought back to get within one of Omaha, but two more shots in the paint from Pilakouta regrew the lead to five points. Two last-second free throws from UND would slightly eat into Omaha's lead as the Mavericks entered halftime up 36-33.
 
Inside the Third Quarter
Pilakouta and Grant each made two more layups through the first five minutes as the Mavericks held off another UND offensive push to hold fast with a three-point lead.
 
After another three-pointer from Keitges, Omaha found itself with its largest lead yet at 53-46 with 3:41 remaining. Stanley then made it an eight point lead at 58-50 with her first three of the day. 
 
Inside the Fourth Quarter
North Dakota was not going down without a fight, as they cut Omaha's lead to three points or less five times in the final quarter, even getting within one with just under four minutes left. Each time, however, the Mavericks bounced right back and prevented the Fighting Hawks from ever retaking the lead.

First it was Sam Mitchell who drained a three at 8:37 to make it a five-point game, then it was four straight free throws by her and Stanley at 3:28 to end another UND rally. After the Fighting Hawks made it 72-70 with 2:14 on the clock, Stanley again ended their run with a field goal, before Cave, Grant, and Polina Nikulochkina sunk six in a row from the line to make it 80-70 with only 58 seconds left in the game. Despite one last push from North Dakota to yet again make it a three-point game with 17 seconds left, it was not enough to overcome the Mavericks as they held on to punch their ticket to the semifinals.

Next Up  
The Mavericks and the Roos will face off tomorrow at 3 p.m. to decide who will play in Tuesday's conference championship.