OMAHA, Neb. — Freshman Regan Juenemann (Crosby, Minn.) became the second Maverick in program history to score at least 40 points as she led the Omaha women's basketball team to an 84-75 upset of Oral Roberts on Wednesday night at Baxter Arena.
Juenemann scored 40, with 19 in the first half and 21 in the second, as she went 13 of 19 from the field, including seven 3-pointers, and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line.
The other Maverick to top 40 was Darcy Stracke, who scored 43 in 1999 when the Mavericks were a Division II program. Juenemann is now the single-game scoring leader for the DI era.
"I've never scored 40 before, but I couldn't do it without my teammates and my coaches," said Juenemann, whose previous high this season was 27.
And Juenemann wasn't the only Maverick with an outstanding individual night. Graduate Sarai Estupiñan (Cedar Park, Texas) scored 30 points, and freshman Avril Smith (Omaha, Neb.) finished with a career-high 23 rebounds, the most Omaha has had in the Division I era. Omaha outrebounded the Golden Eagles 45-29 on the night. Estupiñan is the third player in program history to have multiple 30-point games. She tallied 35 against Briar Cliff two months ago.
Those career nights allowed Omaha (5-25, 3-12 Summit League) to knock off Oral Roberts (14-14, 7-8) after losing 85-52 to the Golden Eagles last month.
"We're just a different team than we were the first time we played them," Estupiñan said of Omaha, which has a 3-3 record in February. "I think we've grown a lot throughout the conference season, understanding different roles and what our strengths are."
Omaha played to those strengths as it put together its best offensive first half of the season.
Junior Ali Stephens (Fort Wayne, Ind.) hit three 3-pointers in the first six minutes as Omaha raced to a 14-9 lead.
The rest of the half belonged to Estupiñan and Juenemann.
Estupiñan hit a pair of 3-pointers and spent most of the half creating opportunities in the lane. After hitting a pair of free throws at the 4:35 mark of the second quarter, she had 20 points as Omaha led 34-25.
Juenemann, who has shown an ability to score in bunches during her freshman season, then scored Omaha's last 14 points of the half. She had 19 at the break as the Mavericks led 48-34.
Oral Roberts forced seven turnovers in the third quarter, but Juenemann kept hitting shots to hold the Golden Eagles at arm's length.
When Juenemann hit a 3-pointer from the left corner and a jumper to start the fourth quarter, Omaha held a 68-57 lead with eight minutes remaining.
Oral Roberts continued to apply full-court pressure, trimming the lead to 70-67 with five minutes left.
The Mavericks finished strong from there. Stephens started a 14-8 run with a 3-pointer, which was Omaha's 14th of the night.
Two Juenemann free throws increased the margin to 79-69 with 2:14 left, then she hit a key shot in the lane with 50 seconds remaining to stem ORU's charge.
Omaha will play its regular-season finale at 1 p.m. CT Saturday against Denver in Baxter Arena. Tickets are available at OMavs.com/Tickets or by calling 402-554-MAVS.
Connect with Omaha Women's Basketball on
X (formerly Twitter) and
Instagram,
@OmahaWBB.
