SIOUX FALLS, SD - The Mavericks women's basketball squad opens the Summit League Basketball Championships as the No. 8 seed, playing No. 9 Denver in the first game, a "play-in" for the right to face the top-seeded, unbeaten South Dakota State.
The tournament is March 5-9 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, running concurrently with the men's event. The Omaha-Denver game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT Wednesday and can be heard on the Omaha Sports Network from Learfield via The Varsity Network app/website and over the air on 1180 AM The Zone 2 in the Omaha area. All women's tournament games except for the final will be televised on the Summit League Network. Sunday's final will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network. Brent Weber handles the play-by-play for the Mavericks. The FNBO Pregame Show begins 15:00 prior to tip-off.
Omaha (14-16, 6-11) won three of four games to close out the regular season, but their loss on the road in the finale at North Dakota State, coupled with North Dakota's win over Kansas City and league tiebreakers, saw them fall from a hopeful fifth-seed to eighth in a matter of moments. The Mavericks are 7-7 all-time in the tournament, including a shocking 52-40 win over top-seed South Dakota State in the opening round of the 2021 tourney. That was Carrie Banks' first season as head coach. Omaha is 5-3 all-time in the tournament under Banks.
Additional tournament information can be found on The Summit League's website.
GAME NOTES BREAKDOWN
Omaha women's basketball earned six Summit League post-season honors for 2024-2025, the most in Mavericks history. The complete list of 2024-25 Summit League Women's Basketball Awards was released at 1:00 p.m. CT Monday. Senior guard
Grace Cave, finishing her record-setting fourth season as a Maverick, received all-league honors for the second straight year, named All-Summit League Second Team. Senior guard
Ja Harvey was named All-Summit League Honorable Mention, one of three post-season conference honors she received this year. In Harvey's lone year in Omaha, the transfer from San Diego was named Summit League Newcomer of the Year and to the All-Newcomer Team, in addition to the All-Summit Honorable Mention nod. She is joined on the All- Newcomer team by senior transfer
Aaliyah Moore. Mavericks freshman center
Harriet Ford rounds out the awards with selection to the All-Freshman Team. A complete breakdown of the four players' seasons can be found
here.
Rallying in the face of adversity, Omaha's women's basketball squad closed out the regular season winning three of their last four games and four of their last six. Losing the final game of the season left the Mavericks with the 8th seed in the Summit League Championships. A win over NDSU on the final day would have jumped them to the fifth seed in a very tight finish to the conference season.
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.
More information can be found in the Omaha Game Notes.
SCOUTING DENVER
The two teams have split the season series, with Omaha winning the most recent 80-77 in OT at Baxter Arena (2/15). Omaha leads the all-time series 15-12.
In the comeback win over Denver, 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.
Connect with Omaha women's basketball on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram, @OmahaWBB.
Links are available on the OMavs.com schedule page.
