OMAHA, NEB. - Rallying in the face of adversity, Omaha's women's basketball squad closes out the regular season with two games in the state of North Dakota, Thursday at North Dakota and Saturday at North Dakota State. Coming off their third win in the last four games despite a shrinking roster due to injuries, the Mavericks (12-15, 4-10) are working to move up in the conference standings before the Summit League Championship.
The Mavericks claimed back-to-back wins to closeout their home schedule, riding senior Ja Harvey's 34 points to a 71-57 win over South Dakota (2/20), following a dramatic comeback win on Senior Day as they rallied from a 16-point first half deficit to beat Denver 80-77 in overtime (2/15).
Harvey's night against the Coyotes (four of seven three-pointers en route to a career-high 34 points) is the highest point total for Omaha this season and equals the most scored by a Maverick since Mikaela Shaw poured in 38 at North Dakota State ten years ago (2/14/15). Aaliyah Stanley also scored 34 points at Kansas City 12/31/2022.
The senior from San Diego was named Co-Kwik Star Summit League Women's Basketball Peak Performer of the Week, sharing the honor with SDSU's Brooklyn Meyer. Harvey averages 14.6 points (12th in Summit), 3.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game (tied for 2nd in SL).
In the comeback win over the Pioneers, the Mavericks played with only seven available players due to illness and injury. Despite flu-like symptoms the day before, Grace Cave built upon her legacy as one of Omaha's all-time greats. The senior from Weeping Water, Nebraska scored the last nine Omaha points of regulation, including two threes that erased a six-point deficit in the closing minute, sending the game to overtime. She played all 45 minutes in the game, finishing with a game-high 25. Cave leads the Mavericks with a career-high 15.3 points (9th) and 3.7 assists per game (5th). She also grabs 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 steals per contest. Cave ranks 8th in the league in Assist/TO ratio.
The Mavericks enter the week in a tight race for tournament seeding. After beating Denver Saturday, the Fighting Hawks (5-9, 10-17) are sixth in the conference, holding a 1/2 game lead over South Dakota in seventh and one game over the Mavericks, currently in eighth place. North Dakota State (17-10, 9-5) lost 100-84 at Oral Roberts, but have a firm spot in third behind SDSU (14-0, 24-3) and ORU (12-3, 22-6). The seventh and eight place teams have a tougher tournament road, forced to play a "play-in" game for the honor of facing top-seeded SDSU. The Summit League Championship tournament is March 5-9 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, SD.
Thursday's game against UND in Grand Fork, ND tips-off at 7:00 p.m. CT. Saturday's regular season finale in Fargo, ND begins at 1:00 p.m. CT.
MAVERICK NOTES
• Cave continues to pace the Mavericks in scoring with a career-high 15.3 ppg (9th in the Summit) to go along with 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists (5th in the Summit) and 1.8 steals per game (7th), followed by senior Ja Harvey at 14.6 ppg (12th), 3.2 rpg, 2.7 apg (12th) and 2.0 spg (tied for 2nd). In Summit League games only, Cave averages 17.4 ppg and Harvey 17.1 ppg.
• On the season, Cave has posted a team-leading eight 20+ scoring performances, leading the Mavs in scoring 14 times, including a career-high 29 points against Kansas City (2/8/25).
• Freshman Harriet Ford recently turned in two of the most prolific rebounding games in school history. After grabbing 17 boards to go with 12 points at Kansas City (2/08), the center from Perth, Western Australia nabbed a career-high 18 boards and ten points in the win over Denver. Her 18 rebound effort against the Pioneers equaled the most in a single game during the school's DI Era, before Aaliyah Moore grabbed 19 against South Dakota. With her overall 8.2 rpg, Ford trails only USD's Grace Larkins (9.31) in rebounding among Summit League players.
• Ford is third in scoring among active players Cora Olsen (out due to injury), leading the team with 8.2 rebounds per game to go with 7.9 ppg and a team-leading 48.7% shooting from the field. Her four double-doubles lead Summit League freshmen, and rank 13th in the nation for freshmen in NCAA DI this season.
• Senior Aaliyah Moore's 19 rebounds against South Dakota rank sixth all-time for Omaha and are the most ever pulled down in a game during the Mavericks' DI Era. Moore has three double-doubles on the season.
• Sparkplug Ja Harvey has led the Mavericks in scoring nine times this season. The senior from San Diego leads the team in three-point shooting percentage at 40% (tied with Ali Stephens), including 42% (15-36) in league games. A two-time JUCO All-American, Harvey was named the Summit League Peak Newcomer of the Month for December, scoring double-digits in each game, leading the team in scoring three times and averaging a team-best 16.2 ppg during that span. In December, she led her team in points, ppg, field goals made and three pointers made, steals and minutes played while sinking 19 of 20 free throws. With her Co-Kwik Star Summit League Women's Basketball Peak Performer of the Week honor, she is the only Maverick to receive in-season honors this season. She has scored in double figures 16 times in 21 games played.
• Senior transfer Aaliyah Moore is fourth among active scorers and continues to be one of the team's most versatile performers, with 5.9 ppg, and 5.2 rpg while shooting 44% from the field. Starting 16 games, Moore has played in all 27 to this point, one of only three Mavericks to do so this season (Morgann Gardner, Katie Keiges).
• Moore has six double-figure games including three double-doubles this season (21/14 vs. St. Mary; 12/11 vs. Kansas City; 2/15 vs. Denver).
• With injuries piling up, the Mavericks roster is down to eleven active players, notably the losses of third-leading scorer sophomore Cora Olsen and freshman Paige Horne to season-ending injuries. Making the roster even thinner are recent illnesses and day-to-day injuries to junior Lauren Perry, who started her second game as a Maverick against Kansas City, and Mar Vidal, a valuable defender and playmaker off the bench.
• Against Bellevue University, Cave surpassed the 1,000 point plateau for her Mavericks career, the 29th in overall school history to do so. She since has moved up to 13th (1,248), second in the school's Division I Era (games since the school began the move to NCAA Division I in 2011). Mikaela Shaw's Division I total is out of reach (1,809, 2013-2017).
• Coming up on her ninth year as a member of the Army National Guard, Specialist Ja Harvey recently met with and was honored by Nebraska Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Craig W. Strong, and State Command Sergeant Major, Command Sgt. Maj. Dennis Krecklow. They were visiting the UNO campus and requested the meeting to honor the 27-year-old Harvey for her service and to commend her leadership as a student-athlete while serving her country in the National Guard.
• Alana Powell's half-court buzzer-beater to close out the third quarter against Bellevue was featured on the ESPN SportsCenter Top Ten plays at number three after the win.
• Both Cave and fifth-year Katie Keitges crossed career milestones this season from behind the arc. In addition to her climb in career points, Grace has 125 career three-pointers, ranking 5th in the Mavs DI Era. With 119 career 3-pointers, Katie is sixth.
• The University of Nebraska (NU) System mourns the passing of Howard L. Hawks, whose leadership and generosity has created a lasting legacy on the university system, the state of Nebraska and well beyond. Regent Emeritus Hawks, alongside his wife Rhonda, dedicated decades of leadership, philanthropy and service to advancing higher education, athletics and community well-being across Nebraska. To honor Hawks, Mavericks women's basketball uniforms feature a patch carrying his initials, HH.
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
North Dakota (10-17, 5-9) is coming off their second road win in league play this season, beating Denver 73-68 Saturday. Thursday they nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the season, falling in the closing seconds to Oral Roberts University 83-80. It wasn't their only near-shocker against the Golden Eagles this year, as the Fighting Hawks fell in double overtime 98-91 (1/9/25). Omaha won the most recent meeting between the two teams to open the Summit League campaign, 76-71 (1/2/25). UND is led by Kiera Pemberton's 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. North Dakota leads the all-time series 59-12.
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
North Dakota State (17-10, 9-5) hosts Kansas City Thursday at 7:00 p.m. CT. The Bison beat the Mavs 81-67 at Baxter Arena, outscoring Omaha 26-11 in the fourth quarter. It was the final victory of a six-game winning streak for NDSU. Marisa Frost came off the bench and scored 23 points in the game. Avery Koenen has seven double-doubles on the season, and leads the Bison with 13.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. NDSU leads the all-time series 54-21.
LISTEN/WATCH/FOLLOW
Omaha games can be heard on the Omaha Sports Network from Learfield via The Varsity Network app/website and over the air Thursday on KOIL 1290 AM and Saturday on 1180 AM The Zone. All remaining Mavericks regular season games will be televised on the Summit League Network. Brent Weber handles the play-by-play for the Mavericks. The FNBO Pregame Show begins 15:00 prior to tip-off.
Connect with Omaha women's basketball on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram, @OmahaWBB.
Links are available on the OMavs.com schedule page. Tickets are available for all Mavericks home games at OMavs.com/tix.
