Omaha, Neb. – The Omaha Mavericks fell in a close 83-81 contest against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks. Despite pulling ahead and leading in the fourth, the Mavericks fell short in the end. 
 
Omaha falls to a 5-18 overall on the season and is now 1-9 in conference play. 

Leaders For Omaha
Omaha's points and rebounds were led tonight by Morgann Gardner with 18 and 7 respectively. From the field, Gardner went 6-of-10 and went a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Grace Cave led in assists with eight and Kennedi Grant led with three steals. Also going a perfect 3-of-3 from the line was Aaliyah Stanley who had 14 total points. The other Mavericks in double-digits were Cave (16), and Grant (13).
 
Leaders for North Dakota
North Dakota was led in scoring by Kacie Borowicz and Kiera Pemberton with 18 each. Borowicz led with nine rebounds and five assists. 

Team Stats
Omaha was outshot on the field 43.9% (25-of-57) to 54.1% (33-of-61). From the three-point line, Omaha led 30% (6-of-20) to 25% (4-of-16). The Mavericks also led from the free throw line 73.5% (25-of-34) to 61.9% (13-of-21). 

Inside the First Quarter
Morgann Gardner got the Mavericks started with a jumper outside the point at 8:47. With an and one Gardner had tied the game 3-3. After tying it up the Mavericks trailed the rest of the quarter but kept a close gap between them and the Fighting Hawks. Of the 16 points scored Grant led with four points, off of two field goals. Cave notched three of her assists in the first. 

The Mavericks let up 22 points from nine field goals. The Fighting Hawks outrebounded Omaha 12-10. From the field, UND shot 9-of-21. The Fighting Hawks defense held Omaha to just 1-of-6 three-pointers. 

Inside the Second Quarter
The Mavericks pulled out the stops in the second, with an 11-point scoring streak to start the quarter. Omaha held the lead until 4:06 when they gave up a jumper to UND. Cave put up 10 of the 22 points in the second. Omaha picked up seven points from the free throw lines. 

After giving up 11 points to the Mavericks, the Fighting Hawks bounced back and took the lead. UND slowly crawled ahead of Omaha getting their lead back to 11 at the end of the second quarter. From the field, the Fighting Hawks scored 12-of-16  for a .750 shot percent. 

Inside the Third Quarter
Omaha had another hot start to the quarter and put up another 10-point scoring streak. Omaha took the lead back after Grant scored a pair of free throws to put the score at 56-54. Omaha ended the quarter up 64-58 after Stanley scored a driving layup. 

The Fighting Hawks struggled against the Mavericks as they were only able to score nine points. Seven of those points came from the free-throw line. The Hawks turned over seven possessions to the Mavericks allowing them 12 field goal opportunities. UND had foul trouble, sending Omaha to the line for 15 total attempts and giving up 11 points. 

 Inside the Fourth Quarter
The Mavericks fought back and forth with the Hawks to keep the lead. Omaha maintained the lead until 2:07. In the last two minutes Omaha ran into foul trouble that gave the Hawks the ball and ran down the clock. A final free throw by Cave put Omaha within two. The Mavericks took back possession after a jump ball situation with five seconds left. Grant attempted one more shot on the inbound but was just short. 

North Dakota fought back in the fourth, scoring 25 points while holding Omaha to just 17 points. The Hawks held the Mavericks to just 1-of-5 threes and 6-of-15 field goals. The Fighting Hawks finished the game up 83-81. 

Next Up
The Mavericks remain in Baxter to host North Dakota State on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 2 p.m.