OMAHA, Neb. – After facing a tie game at the half, North Dakota women's basketball fought to keep it a single-digit difference through its Thursday evening road battle, but Omaha would emerge victorious, 58-54, inside Baxter Arena.
The Fighting Hawks drop to 6-18 overall and 2-8 in conference play while Omaha moves to 3-22 and 1-9.
Mataeya Mathern came off the bench to lead the scoring for UND with her first career double-double with 10 rebounds and 12 points after a strong 7-of-9 showing from the free throw line. Following close behind was
Ava Miller with her third double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds alongside three blocks and two steals as
Mackenzie Hughes scored 10 points on the night.
North Dakota was 17-of-64 (26.6-percent) from the floor, 7-of-35 (20-percent) from behind the arc and 13-of-17 (76.5-percent) from the free throw line. The Hawks forced 15 turnovers from the Mavericks compared to their own 12 while totaling eight blocks, nine assists and 43 rebounds.
Omaha took the early lead and held onto control until a 3-pointer from Hughes tied things up at 7 apiece with 4:50 remaining in the first quarter. An exchange of free throws forced another tie and
Mikayla Aumer knocked down a triple for the UND advantage. Another one soon came off the hands of Mathern and helped push the 15-11 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
The spread grew to five points off a layup from Hughes and a completed three-point play from
London Harris to go ahead 20-15 at the 5:34 mark. North Dakota would score just one field goal for the remainder of the quarter—again off the hands of Harris—as Omaha began to work away at the score differential to tie it at 22-22 heading into the locker room.
Only one made field goal would drop for either team through the first nearly four minutes of the third quarter and it came within the first 20 seconds for Omaha. An exchange of free throws kept the Mavericks ahead by one point until
Finley Ohnstad a triple to put North Dakota ahead at 27-26 with 4:57 remaining. Miller connected on her own layup and 3-pointer to push the lead to three, but the home team replied with a 7-1 run to regain control and a pair of free throws solidified the 40-35 Omaha advantage.
The lead grew to seven until
Sydney Piekny cashed in on her first triple of the quarter, cutting things to a 42-38 spread. Omaha pushed back with a 3-pointer and layup, but Piekny struck again from deep. A layup from Miller immediately after closed the game in at 47-43 with 5:05 remaining and the back-and-forth game was on.
Omaha responded with seven straight points before North Dakota rattled off eight to close in at 54-51 with 32 seconds remaining. The free throw exchange continued, but the Fighting Hawks would get no closer, falling 58-54.
Post-Game Notes
- Mataeya Mathern tallied her first career double-double
- Ava Miller added in her third of the season for a team total of eight
- Omaha out-rebounded North Dakota 48-43
- UND tallied 20 points in the paint in the affair
- Thursday marked the 14th-ever loss to Omaha
- Seven different Hawks registered an assist
- The eight blocks mark a season-high for UND
How It Happened
Q1: North Dakota 15, Omaha 11
Q2: North Dakota 22, Omaha 22
Q3: North Dakota 35, Omaha 40
Q4: North Dakota 54, Omaha 58
Up Next
The road trip continues for North Dakota women's basketball as the Fighting Hawks head to Kansas City for a Saturday afternoon game at 2 p.m. inside the Swinney Center.
For more information on North Dakota women's basketball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media
@UNDwbasketball.
