Omaha City Wire

The Mavericks kicked off 2023 with a bang as they took down Western Illinois 76-64 Thursday night in Baxter Arena.

With this win, the Mavericks are back at .500 as they improve to 7-7 on the season, as well as earning their second Summit League victory to jump to 2-1. As for the Leathernecks, they drop to 6-10 overall and 1-4 in the Summit League.

Leaders For Omaha

Coming off one of the greatest performances ever by a Maverick, Aaliyah Stanley was once again electric tonight, leading the team with 21 points (8-for-14, 57.1%), including three 3-PT FGs. This is the fifth double-digit scoring game of the season for Stanley, as she tops 150 points overall.

Grace Cave scored 12 points tonight, including 7-of-8 on free throws (87.5%). This is her ninth double-digit scoring game of the season. Cave also pulled down seven rebounds, giving her 67 on the season and passing her total number of rebounds from last season (65) in just 14 games. 

Sam Mitchell also reached double-digit points for the second time this season as she scored 12, going 2-for-4 on three-pointers. She also led the Mavericks with four steals.

Morgann Gardner led the team with a career-high eight rebounds, as well as scoring eight points (4-for-5).

Leaders for Western Illinois
Anna Deets earned a double-double as she led the Leathernecks with 16 points and 15 total rebounds. Right behind her was Mallory McDermott who scored 11 points and had a steal.

Team Stats 
The Mavericks outshot the Leathernecks 41.4% (24-for-58) to 34.5% (19-for-55). Omaha also had more free throws (21-for-27 vs. 19-for-23), though, Western Illinois was more efficient at 82.6% to 77.8%.Where the Mavericks really pulled away from the Leathernecks was in turnovers, recording 11 steals and scoring 18 points on turnovers while only giving the ball away 14 times. Western Illinois only had four steals and eight points off turnovers while losing the ball 20 times.

Inside the First Quarter 
Both teams appeared evenly matched in the first quarter, each scoring 15 by the end. The Mavericks initially came out to a 10-5 lead by 6:39 after buckets from Stanley, Elena Pilakouta, and Polina Nikulochkina.

The Leathernecks managed to tie the game at 10-10 heading into the first media timeout, only for Omaha to go up 15-10 on a layup from Gardner and Stanley's second three-pointer of the period. WIU ended up tying the score yet again with a 5-0 scoring run to end the first.

Inside the Second Quarter 
Four minutes into the second quarter, Omaha again found itself with a five-point lead at 25-20. Mitchell and Pilakouta each had four points during this run. However, WIU gradually started to chip away at the lead, eventually coming out ahead 28-25 at 4:16 on a 3-PT FG from Deets.

The Western Illinois lead grew to 33-27 with a little over a minute left. The Mavericks were able to keep it close by the end of the half, with Nikulochkina making the buzzer beater to cut the deficit to three points at 35-32.

Inside the Third Quarter 
By the seven-minute mark, the Mavericks were trailing the Leathernecks 42-34. At 5:45, though, Stanley ignited the Mavericks offense with her third from behind the arc. Pilakouta followed this up with a layup and a free throw, before Cave and Kennedi Grant each went 2-for-2 from the line all within the next three minutes.

Grant would finally give Omaha back the lead for good with a shot from deep to make it 52-49 with just under a minute left.

Inside the Fourth Quarter 
With the lead back in their hands, the Mavericks dominated the court over the final 10 minutes, outscoring the Leathernecks 23-12. Mitchell would give Omaha an eight-point lead with a pair of threes in the first couple of minutes, which Stanley later made into a 12-point lead with six points on a layup, a free throw, and her third three-pointer of the day.

From there it was only a matter of running out the clock, though, that did not stop Mitchell, Cave, and Grant from going 9-for-11 on free throws over the final four minutes.

Next Up 
The Mavericks will be back in action this Saturday at 2 p.m. when they close out their home stand against St. Thomas. 

Original source can be found here.