Grand Forks, ND. - The Omaha Mavericks fall 100-75 in a tough conference matchup against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. 
 
The team falls to 4-12 overall on the season and 0-3 in conference play. 

Leaders For Omaha
Grace Cave paced the Mavericks with a career-high 27 points. Cave went 8-of-17 from the field, 4-of-6 on three-pointers, and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Cave also led with five rebounds, three assists, and one block. 
 
Leaders for North Dakota
Two Hawks hit over 20 points tonight. Nakiyah Hurst scored a double-double with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Kacie Borowicz notched a triple-double with 20 points, a team-high 11 rebounds, and a team-high 10 assists. 

Team Stats
Omaha was out-shot on the field 33.9% (20-of-59) to 57.6% (38-of-66). The Mavericks were also outshot from the three 36.4% (8-of-22) to 55% (11-of-20). Though the Mavericks did make up on the free throw line out-shooting 71.1% (27-of-38) to 56.5% (13-of-23). 

Inside the First Quarter
After falling behind early, Grace Cave sunk three back-to-back threes by the six-minute mark of the first to get the Mavericks back up to speed with the Fighting Hawks. A pair of made free throws by P. Nikulochkina tied the game up at eight. After tying it up the Mavericks were held scoreless for about three minutes until Cora Olsen sunk a free throw at 3:42. 

Sophomore Nakiyah Hurst had a hot start scoring seven straight points for the Hawks. On top of their quick offense, their defense came out strong holding Omaha from scoring until 8:38. Despite an early seven-point lead, they gave it up after a foul and a pair of Maverick free throws. Though once tied up, they slowly gained the lead back. At the end of the first UND was up 27-19

Inside the Second Quarter
The Mavericks struggled to sink shots in the second. Lucy Ghaifan got the first points of the quarter at 8:35 but it wasn't until 6:40 that Cave would sink a three after the Mavericks gave up seven straight points. Cave recorded eight of the 15 points scored in the second quarter, with a trio of free throws, a layup, and a three-pointers. 

The Fighting Hawks got the second going with an early three-pointer. Hurst then drew a shooting foul to sink a pair from the line to give her 15 points in the first 11 minutes of the game. In the first five minutes of the second, NoDak had racked up their lead to 20. After holding the Mavericks to just 15 points, UND put up 26 points in the second to lead at the half 53-34.

Inside the Third Quarter
The Mavericks came into the half itching to get close the gap. The shot attempts were there but the Mavericks just could not get the shots to fall. Cave made a steal off a bad pass for a fast break up the court, making a behind-the-back pass to Morgann Gardner but Gardner was fouled on the way up for the shot. Gardner sunk a free throw for the first point of the half at 7:26. The first field goal for the Mavericks came at 6:28 when Aaliyah Stanley made a driving layup through the traffic. After a small scoring rut, Cave scored five straight points in just 23 seconds. Starting with Cave's free throws at 3:30 the only points scored were the seven free throws and one jumper by Ana Nikulochkina. 

The first two points in the second half came from free throws, going 2-of-4 from the line. By 6:23 the Hawks had scored seven points and held Omaha to just one point off a free throw. NoDak had their highest lead of the game of 28 at 5:02 after a layup by Vanderwal. The 24-point half was led by Borowicz with seven points. 

Inside the Fourth Quarter
Omaha had an offensive burst in the fourth scoring 13 points by 4:51. Six of those points came from free throws and three from a jumper by Katie Keitges. The Mavericks had their best offensive quarter scoring 22 points, being led by Keitges who was a perfect 3-of-3 behind the arc. 

Up by 24 going into the fourth NoDak had the win in sight. The only other thing they were looking to achieve was the triple-double for Borowicz. The Hawks subbed Borowicz back in after she came out for a personal foul. Fighting to get a shot at every rebound, with 1:43 remaining she got her final rebound to complete the triple-double. The Hawks sent the Mavericks to the line for eight free throw attempts, giving up seven points. A final set of free throws to reach 100 points would complete the competition in Grand Forks. 

Next Up
The Omaha Mavericks will travel down the road to Fargo to tip off against the North Dakota State Bison on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m.