OMAHA, Neb.- The Omaha women's basketball squad showed resilience after letting a first quarter lead slip away, holding off Sacramento State 67-63 for Omaha's fifth straight win.The victory at Baxter Arena extended the longest winning streak of
Carrie Banks career as Omaha head coach and gives her team a sweep of their two games in the Big Sky-Summit Challenge.
Omaha (6-4) led by as many as 13 points in the first, their most prolific shooting quarter of the season (8-13 FG), before Sacramento State (6-4) rallied in the second quarter to tie the game 28-28 at halftime. The Mavericks built the lead back to 12 with 5:25 to play in the fourth quarter on
Morgann Gardner's layup, assisted by
Grace Cave. After another Sacramento State rally, Cave again assisted, this time on
Katie Keitges' jumper with :35 to play that gave the Mavericks the lead they would not relinquish.
The senior Cave led the Mavericks with 17 pts, adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists. She made 6-6 free throws, as the Mavericks sank 18 of 20 from the charity stripe, their best output of the season. Sophomore
Cora Olsen had 13 pts, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, while while both Gardner and fellow senior
Ja Harvey finished with 12 points each. Omaha scored 22 points off turnovers, outscoring Sacramento State 12-4 on fast breaks.
Omaha plays next at Lindenwood next Saturday, December 14, in Lake Charles, Missouri. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. CT. The game can be heard on the Omaha Mavericks Network from Learfield. Links to the broadcast can be found at OMavs.com
The Mavericks play one more home game this calendar year, Wednesday December 18 at Sapp Fieldhouse. Tickets are available for all Mavericks home games at OMavs.com/tix.
