OMAHA, Neb. - Omaha Women's Basketball secured its first conference victory of the season with a 58-54 over North Dakota on Thursday night.
Omaha (3-22, 1-9 Summit League) took an 11-point lead with 3:10 left and then held off North Dakota (6-18, 2-8) in the final minute.
The Mavericks gave coach
Jamie Carey her first conference win five days after Omaha lost a one-point heartbreaker to Kansas CIty.
A pair of double-doubles carried Omaha to the win as freshman
Avril Smith (Omaha, Neb.) controlled the paint with 15 points, 20 rebounds, four steals and four blocked shots. Junior
Ali Stephens (Fort Wayne, Ind.) had her first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
It was the second straight game that Smith had a double-double. The Millard North graduate hadn't scored in double figures all season before last Saturday when she had 11 points and 17 rebounds against Kansas City.
Omaha defense and rebounding kept it close in the first half as the teams went to the break tied 22-22.
Stephens scored on the first possession of the second half. There were three lead changes and three ties in the first eight minutes of the second half before the Mavericks took momentum into the fourth quarter.
Smith, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds just in the second half, scored to start the fourth quarter to stretch Omaha's lead to 42-35.
Omaha took the game's biggest lead at 53-42 as, in a matter of 15 seconds, Stephens hit a 3-pointer from the left corner and then freshman
Regan Juenemann (Crosby, Minn.) recorded a steal and scored a breakaway layup with 3:10 left.
North Dakota scored the next eight points, but the Fighting Hawks never got closer than two points.
That happened when it hit a free throw with 3.7 seconds left, but then Juenemann calmly sank two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to make it 58-54.
Juenemann also had a steal on the final possession to secure the win.
Feshman
Leekaya Burke Perryman (Colorado Springs, Colo.) also finished in double figures for Omaha with 10 points and three assists off the bench.
Omaha outrebounded North Dakota 48-43 and held UND to 26.6 percent (17 of 64) shooting from the field.
Omaha stays at home and will face North Dakota State at 1 p.m. CT Saturday. Tickets are available at OMavs.com/Tickets or by calling 402-554-MAVS. The game will be shown on the Summit League Network and broadcast on the Varsity Network and 1180 AM.
Connect with Omaha Women's Basketball on
X (formerly Twitter) and
Instagram,
@OmahaWBB.
