OMAHA, Neb. - The Omaha women's basketball team takes to the road at St. Thomas and Kansas City this week, looking to regroup down the stretch of the Summit League season. The Mavericks roll north to visit the Tommies (12-10, 4-5) Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. CT before making the journey south to face the Roos (9-14, 5-3) Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. CT.

Omaha has dropped eight straight conference games following one of their most successful pre-league campaigns when they reeled off seven straight wins in November/December, equaling the longest run of Omaha's NCAA D-I Era. Omaha's eight wins in the first half equal the most going into conference play since Omaha began formally competing for the Summit League crown (2012-2013). In the pre-conference portion of the schedule, Omaha went 8-4 in 2017-2018, 8-6 in 2013-2014 and 8-2 in 2012-2013. But the conference portion of the schedule has been unforgiving to a roster shrinking due to injuries and absences. 

Omaha's Grace Cave continues to pace the team, averaging a career-best 13.8 points per game, to go with a team-leading 3.7 assists per game, 4.2 rebounds, 1.8 steals and a team-high 1.07 assist to turnover ratio. With 308 assists, the senior from Weeping Water is six shy of Mikaela Shaw for most in Mavericks DI history (Shaw: 314 assist, 2013-2017). 

The Mavericks lost to the Tommies two weeks ago as hot-shooting St. Thomas raced out to a lead and never looked back, handing Omaha a 67-53 loss at Baxter Arena. The loss to Kansas City January 25 at Baxter Arena was a heartbreaker for the Mavs, who led for all but 3:52 seconds of the game, before the Roos rallied for the 66-65 win. 

• Omaha hopes to welcome back sparkplug, senior Ja Harvey, who has challenged Cave for team scoring honors (13.3 ppg) but missed the last four games while under concussion protocol. Harvey has led the Mavericks in scoring eight times this season. Her 15.2 points per game in Summit League play leads the team, while she shoots 44% from behind the arc in conference games.

• Cave has posted a team-leading four 20+ scoring performances, leading the Mavs in scoring eight times.  She is currently fifth in the conference in assists and steals per game, 10th in scoring and 11th in FG% (41%). Cave is the second Maverick playing exclusively in the school's DI Era to amass more than 1,000 points (1,140) and 300 assists (308). 

• To start the season, the Mavs equaled their best 18-game record since 2015-2016 after completing one of the most successful pre-league portions of their schedule in the DI Era, including a seven-game winning streak.

• Freshman Harriet Ford (7.8 ppg and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per game) is third in scoring among active players, followed by senior transfer Aaliyah Moore (6.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and sophomore Alana Powell (5.7 ppg)

• Moore and Powell have joined the starting lineup in recent games, with Powell averaging 13 ppg in her three starts, scoring double figures in each game including a career-high 17 at Oral Roberts. Moore has five double-figure games including two double-doubles this season (21/14 vs. St. Mary; 12/11 vs. Kansas City).

• The Mavericks roster is down to 11 players with the losses of third-leading scorer sophomore Cora Olsen and freshman Paige Horne to season-ending injuries, and freshman Kyana Weir, who is no longer with the team. 

• 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 19th (1,140), with several players within reach (18. Sarah Larson, 1,165, 1996-2000; 17. Amy Loth, 1,170, 1993-1997; 16. Paige Frauendorfer, 1,179, 2018-2023; 15. Elena Pilakouta, 1,201, 2018-2023; 14. Aaliyah Stanley, 1,204, 2021-2024). Both Pilakouta and Stanley are ahead in Division I Era scoring, while Mikaela Shaw's total is out of reach (1,809, 2013-2017).

• A senior from San Diego and 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. 

• Coming up on her ninth year as a member of the Army National Guard, Specialist Harvey recently met with and was honored this week 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.  

• 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. 

• Several Mavericks are moving up in the record book, particularly stats relating to the school's transition into NCAA Division I beginning in 2011, reflecting only players whose entire career has been in the DI Era. 

• 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 121 career three-pointers, ranking 5th in the Mavs DI Era. With 114 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.

GAME CHANGES
• Both Summit League games against Oral Roberts will now be played one day earlier than originally scheduled. Omaha's home game will be played Wednesday, February 12 at 7 p.m. in Baxter Arena. 
• This year's Senior Day celebration, originally scheduled for Thursday, February 20, has been rescheduled to Saturday, February 15 versus Denver. The game coincides with the school's Think Pink efforts to raise awareness of cancer and support for research and care in the battle against the disease.

LOOKING AT THE TOMMIES
• Omaha leads the all-time series 4-3, and has claimed two of three meetings at Schoenecker Arena in St. Paul.
• The Tommies are in the midst of an impressive transition from NCAA DIII to DI as a Summit League member under head coach who is in her 20th overall season at St. Thomas (401-153 combined NCAA). 
• In the previous meeting, St. Thomas had four players in double figures (Jo Langbehn, 18; Jade Hill, 13; Alyssa Sand, 12; Amber Scalia, 10) as they outscored Omaha 23-14 in the fourth quarter.
• Langbehn (14.9 ppg, 5.1 rebounds per game), Scalia (14.9 ppg), Hill (14.4 ppg, 4.6 assists per game) and Sammy Opichka (10.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg) provide a balanced attack.

LOOKING AT THE ROOS
LISTEN/WATCH/FOLLOW
This week's Omaha games can be heard on the Omaha Sports Network from Learfield via The Varsity Network app/website. Wednesday's game will be broadcast over the air on 1290 KOIL AM.  Satursay's broadcast is only available on The Varsity Network. 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.