Fargo, ND. - The Omaha Mavericks fall 87-69 to the North Dakota State Bison on Saturday afternoon. 
 
The team falls to 4-13 overall on the season and 0-4 in conference play. 

Leaders For Omaha
Cora Olsen had a career-high 22 points to pace the Mavericks today.  Olsen went 9-of-10 on field goals and 4-of-7 on the free throw line. Aaliyah Stanley also hit double digits, with 15 points. Stanley went 5-of-14 on the field and 5-of-6 from the line. Stanley led the team with six rebounds. Leading in with two steals was Morgann Gardner and recording the only block today was Brooklynn Smith. 
 
Leaders for North Dakota State
Five different Bison put up double-digits against the Mavs. Leading the herd was Elle Evans with 17 points and five assists, Abbie Draper and Avery Koenen with eight rebounds, and Draper with four blocked shots. 

Team Stats
Omaha was out-shot on the field 42.6% (20-of-47) to 43.1% (31-of-72). From the three-point line, Omaha was only able to take seven shots going 2-of-7 for 28.6% but were out-shot 29.4% (10-of-34). Though the Bison had a higher free throw percentage 73% vs. 75%, Omaha did make more going 27-of-37 compared to NDSU's 15-of-20.

Inside the First Quarter
Omaha had a back-and-forth start with the Bison, tying the score and even taking the lead briefly at 7:14 after Deanay Watson scored a layup off a turnover. The Mavericks were then held scoreless for nearly four minutes. After getting down by 11 the Mavericks were fighting to keep the ball on their end of the court.  

After falling behind by one, the Bison rang in 12 straight points. After giving up two free throws and a layup to Omaha they racked up a 15-point lead. After the first 10, the Bison were up 25-14. 

Inside the Second Quarter
Omaha had their slowest offensive quarter, only scoring 11 points. Despite minimal points, the Mavericks had their best defensive quarter, holding NDSU to just 17 points. Nine of the 11 points in the second quarter came from the free-throw line. Stanley was the only one to sink a field goal.  

The Bison's troubles in the second came from fouls. They were called four seven personal fouls giving the Mavericks 12 attempts on the line. Though they did make up for it with their field goal defense, only allowing one. They kept the Mavericks to 1-of-9 (11.1%). With another 17 points under their belt, the Bison were up 42-25 at the half. 

Inside the Third Quarter
Cora Olsen had an explosive quarter. Olsen scored the first 14 points for the Mavericks. Going on a seven-point run until NDSU scored a layup, and she went on to score another seven straight. The offense clicked in the third and was able to out-shoot North Dakota State 56.3% to 31.6%. 

After allowing Olsen to go on a 14-point scoring streak, the Bison found themselves only eight points ahead of the Mavericks. The Bison were only able to get two turnovers out of the Mavericks and gave up the ball four times in the third. Hamling pulled out one final three-pointer to close the quarter with a 13-point lead, 60-47. 

Inside the Fourth Quarter
The Mavericks scoring in the fourth was driven by their free throws. Omaha drew 10 fouls for 18 attempts on the line. 13 of the 22 points scored in the quarter were from the charity stripe. Ana Nikulochkina accounted for six of those. Omaha was only able to get eight field goal attempts in the fourth quarter, three coming from Stanley who made two. 

The Bison had their highest-scoring quarter, racking up 27 points. Scoring was led by Elle Evans with six. The Bison had their highest lead of the game of 22 at 6:43 after a jumper in the paint. Despite giving up 22 to Omaha, their early lead ultimately won them the game 87-69. 

Next Up
The Omaha Mavericks will return home to Baxter to play South Dakota State on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m.