Cornhusker State News

Playing their first home game in nearly two weeks, the Mavericks nearly came out on top against first place South Dakota State, but could not quite close the gap as they fell 61-68 Thursday night in Baxter Arena.

Halfway through their conference slate, Omaha drops to 9-10 overall and .500 in the Summit League at 4-4. The Jackrabbits remain in first place as they win their eighth straight to improve to 15-5 and remain undefeated in the conference at 8-0.

After making history last week with her 1000th career point, Elena Pilakouta continued her run of dominance as she led the Mavericks with 17 points, reaching double-digits for the fifth game in a row and 15th time this season. The Summit League's leader in FG% shot 8-for-15 (53.3%) tonight. 

Having set a new career high with 19 points last Saturday, Kennedi Grant nearly reached that total again as she was tied with Pilakouta for the team lead with 17 points, going 7-for-19 (36.8%). 

Grace Cave set a new career high in rebounds for the second game in a row with a team-leading 10 rebounds tonight, recording double-digits in the stat for the first time ever. 

Leaders for South Dakota State
Paiton Burckhard led the way for the Jackrabbits with 14 points, followed closely by Myah Selland and Haleigh Timmer with 12 each. Selland also paced the team with nine rebounds and four assists.

Team Stats  
SDSU outshot Omaha overall at 26-for-61 (42.6%) to 25-for-66 (37.9%), but the Mavericks slightly bested them on three-pointers at 7-for-19 (36.8%) to 7-for-20 (35.0%).

Both teams put up high rebound totals, with the Jackrabbits barely edging out Omaha 42 to 40.

Inside the First Quarter  
Omaha battled SDSU to a 16-16 draw in the first period, initially coming out to a 7-4 lead at 7:14 on the layup and the and-one from Pilakouta.

After the Jackrabbits came back and took a 13-11 lead with 1:50 to go, another layup from Pilakouta and a three-pointer for Aaliyah Stanley put the Mavericks back up in just 40 seconds, only for Timmer to tie the game with a three-pointer of her own immediately after.

Inside the Second Quarter  
Starting off with a fast bucket from Stanley, the Mavericks found themselves up 26-20 through the first three minutes and 20 seconds of the quarter. Katie Keitges notched her first 3-PT FG of the day, followed by baskets from Grant and Pilakouta during this run.

Though South Dakota State managed to get within one just before the media timeout, Omaha came out strong from the break as a shot from deep by Akili Felici and a layup from Grant gave the Mavericks back their six-point lead. Sam Mitchell would later grow the lead to seven points after sinking one from behind the arc with 48 seconds remaining. Omaha would ultimately end the half up 36-33 against the top team in the Summit.

Inside the Third Quarter  

Coming out of halftime, the Jackrabbits looked completely revitalized as they went on a 7-0 scoring run and retook the lead in just over a minute. Pilakouta would account for all four of Omaha's points through the first five minutes, as the Mavericks were suddenly down 45-40. 

Buckets from Cave and Pilakouta would get Omaha back to just a three-point deficit, but 10 unanswered points over the last two and a half minutes by the Jackrabbits made it a 13-point game. 

Inside the Fourth Quarter
SDSU saw its lead grow to 59-44 after a quick layup to open the final period. With 6:30 to go and still down by 15, the Mavericks mounted a strong comeback effort, as Grant racked up five points on a couple of jumpers to help cut the lead to seven points. 

After the Jackrabbits went back up by 12 with just 2:06 remaining, a Pilakouta jumper and a Cave three-pointer brought it back to a seven-point game with just over a minute left. Unfortunately, despite the late-game heroics, there was simply not enough time left for Omaha to complete the comeback as SDSU barely outlasted them in the end. 

Original source can be found here.