OMAHA, Neb. - Sarai Estupiñan and
Regan Juenemann finished with career highs as they combined for 62 points in leading the Omaha Women's Basketball team to a 90-81 win over Briar Cliff on Saturday afternoon at Baxter Arena.
Estupiñan (Cedar Park, Texas) finished with team highs of 35 points and seven assists while playing all 40 minutes, while Juenemann (Corsby, Minn.) scored 16 of her 27 points in the fourth quarter. They also combined for nine 3-pointers.
For the freshman Juenemann, she came into the day averaging 7.9 points per game. Her previous season high was 15 points, which came last weekend at a tournament in Los Angeles.
"It was just confidence and energy," said Juenemann, who played 29 minutes off the bench. "I think once we all started hitting, we had confidence in each other."
Juenemann said she feels "10 times more confident now" than last month when she made her career debut. Juenemann had scored in double figures in each of the last four games.
"Coach Jamie (Carey) really helps with that," Juenemann said of her confidence. "She's always on the sidelines yelling at me to shoot the ball even when I'm not confident."
Omaha, which played only seven players, had two others in double figures as sophomore
Daria Shelby (Canton, Mich.) had 11 points and junior
Ali Stephens (Fort Wayne, Ind.) had 10. Freshman
Avril Smith (Omaha, Neb.) matched her season-best in rebounds with 21 and she also had six assists before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.
Omaha (2-13) had to rally in the second half after trailing for a majority of the first half.
Omaha hit three of its 13 3-pointers in the first four minutes and took a 13-10 lead before Briar Cliff, which is 11-4 and ranked 13th in the NAIA poll, scored nine straight.
Estupiñan, who said she had never scored 35 points even in a high school game before, kept Omaha close in the first half as she scored 16 of her team's last 17 points of the first half. She had 20 at the break when Omaha trailed 41-40.
"I think with this team I need to score the ball, but I love passing the ball," Estupiñan said. "I think one of the things is balancing when to shoot and when to get my teammates involved. If I'm aggressive, it opens the floor up for them."
But Omaha was more effective with its half-court defense to start the third quarter, which helped trigger an 11-0 run. Its lead grew to 51-44 on a Shelby three midway through the quarter. Omaha led the rest of the way.
The margin was 60-54 after three quarters before Juenemann heated up from behind the arc.
The freshman hit four of her five threes in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. Her back-to-back 3s from the left side gave Omaha its first double-digit lead at 73-62 with 7:15 left.
Briar Cliff never got closer than six after that as Omaha sealed the win by hitting 7 of 8 free throws in the final 2:08.
Omaha shot 47.5% from the field (29 of 61) and also outrebounded the Chargers 44-33.
Omaha will play at Kansas City at 5 p.m. CT Wednesday, Dec. 31 to start conference play.
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