OMAHA, Neb. – After forcing their way into overtime, the Mavericks staged a late comeback attempt but ultimately could not seal the victory as they closed out their home stand with a 94-90 loss to Oral Roberts Saturday afternoon.
Omaha is now 9-13 on the season and 4-7 in the Summit League, while the Golden Eagles stay hot as they win their fourth game in a row to improve to 10-12 overall and 7-2 in the conference.
Leaders For Omaha
Elena Pilakouta had quite possibly the finest performance of her career as she led the Mavericks with 30 points (12-for-16, 75.0%) and 15 total rebounds to earn her third double-double of the season. Fully locked in throughout the entire game, she had already secured the double-double by the end of the first half. This also marks the 18th double-digit scoring game of the season for Pilakouta and her 8th straight, setting a new personal record.
Kennedi Grant tied her career high with 19 points as she shot 9-for-18 (50.0%) to earn her 11th double-digit scoring game of the season, as well as crossing the 200-point mark with 204 this year.
Aaliyah Stanley had her 11th double-digit scoring game of the season with 15 points, while also recording three steals for the fourth time this season.
Leaders for Oral Roberts
Hannah Cooper and Delaney Nix each topped 20 points with 25 and 21, respectively, while Tirzah Moore picked up a double-double with 14 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.
Team Stats
Omaha outshot ORU overall at 48.6% (36-for-74) to 43.6% (34-for-78), as well as holding the edge in FT% at 92.3% (12-for-13) to 60.9% (14-for-23). However, the Golden Eagles managed to end the day on top in 3-PT FG% at 41.4% (12-for-29) to 26.1% (6-for-23) and in total rebounds (47 to 40).
Inside the First Quarter
It was a quiet start for Omaha as they were blanked over the first three minutes of the game, finally breaking through at 6:50 on a driving layup from Grace Cave. With a trio of threes through the first five minutes, ORU quickly established an 11-4 lead.
In the second half of the period, buckets from Stanley and Pilakouta fueled a 6-0 run that cut the deficit to one with 3:31 remaining, but the Golden Eagles responded by going on a 6-0 run of their own to make it 16-10. With two minutes to go, the Nikulochkina sisters provided a huge spark for the Mavericks, starting with a three-pointer from Ana Nikulochkina followed by three from the stripe for Polina Nikulochkina to tie it up. Morgann Gardner would then follow up with a layup to give Omaha its first lead of the day.
Inside the Second Quarter
Katie Keitges got the Mavericks going in the second with a deep three 30 seconds in. Oral Roberts would briefly retake the lead on a three-pointer from Cooper at 6:24. Luckily, Stanley immediately responded with her first of the day from deep to put Omaha back up.
With four minutes to go, it became the Pilakouta show as she scored eight-straight points and pulled down three boards to finish the first half with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Grant would close out the half for Omaha as she went coast to coast with nine seconds left and made the and-one to put the Mavericks up 43-37.
Inside the Third Quarter
The Mavericks continued to roll in the second half as they held the Golden Eagles to a single free throw for almost four minutes while getting nine points from Grant and Sam Mitchell to take a 52-38 lead.
Things would suddenly take a massive turn, however, as ORU scored 16 unanswered over the next four minutes to take a 54-52 lead. Back-to-back jumpers from Pilakouta would give Omaha back the lead with 1:37 left, but a 3-PT FG from Sara Rodrigues gave Oral Roberts a 59-58 lead to end the period.
Inside the Fourth Quarter
After a jumper from Grant just 15 seconds in, ORU fired off seven straight points to make it 66-60. Still, Grant managed to keep it close for Omaha with three more buckets over the next few minutes. With 4:01 on the clock, Pilakouta made it a three-point game with another layup, before Mitchell drained her second three of the day to tie it up 73-73 with 3:25 remaining.
Two more baskets from Grant would retain the lead for Omaha, though, ORU would again come back out front on a triple from Nix at 1:33. With 1:11 left, Stanley made a pair from the line to make it 79-78 Omaha, only for the Golden Eagles to again tie the game with a free throw to send it to overtime.
Inside Overtime
Omaha quickly fell into a seven-point hole to begin overtime. Gradually, though, the Mavericks managed to claw their way back into it with two buckets each for Pilakouta and Stanley to make it 90-87 with 43 seconds to go.
After yet another ORU three-pointer put them back up by six with 16 seconds left, Keitges sunk one from behind the arc to give Omaha one last breath of hope with just nine seconds left. This would be the end of the line for Omaha, unfortunately, as a late penalty led to a Golden Eagles free throw to close out the game.
Next Up
The Mavericks will set off for their penultimate road trip of the season next week, starting with a 7 p.m. game at St. Thomas on Thursday and ending with a 2 p.m. match with Western Illinois on Saturday.
