Following the Summit – 3/2/13

Recapping the previous day’s games…

Men’s Basketball

North Dakota State 84 @ Omaha 57

What You Need To Know: An ugly game that wasn’t competitive. Taylor Braun is the headline as he went for 22 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in 29 minutes. He looks like he’s going to be great in Sioux Falls.

Interesting Stat Lines: Braun is the main one to note for North Dakota State. Marshall Bjorklund the other one as he went 8-9 for 18 points. Omaha got 10 points from Marcus Tyus and four rebounds to lead the team in both categories. Justin Simmons held to just 9 points on 3-10 shooting. Omaha was outshot 58% to 33% and were beat badly on the offensive glass. North Dakota State did turn it over 17 times.

Next Up: North Dakota State will play Kansas City in the 3-6 matchup in Sioux Falls next Sunday. Omaha’s season is over.

Fort Wayne 74 @ Oakland 72 – Game of the Week

What You Need To Know: Fort Wayne pulled off the season sweep and while it won’t change seeds in Sioux Falls at all, this 4-5 rematch on Sunday is looking more and more exciting. This game was closed throughout but Oakland held a 43-38 lead at the half. Fort Wayne took their first lead of the second half on a Luis Jacobo three with 9:26 left. They would never trail again. Oakland tied it on a Travis Bader there with 2:09 to go and Bader had another three miss that would have given them the lead with 1:27 left. Frank Gaines hit a jumper with 1:12 to go and then Oakland had two chances to score the rest of the way. A missed Duke Mondy jumper with a minute left and missed Duke Mondy layup with four seconds left.

Interesting Stat Lines: The leader for Fort Wayne was actually Luis Jacobo who went 5-11 from deep and scored 21 to go with six rebounds. Frank Gaines added 20 points as well on 8-19 shooting. Oakland was led by 15 points and eight rebounds from Drew Valentine and 14 points and nine rebounds from Corey Petros. Travis Bader was just 1-11 from deep and scored 12 points. Oakland went 20-22 on FTs while only shooting 39% from the field. Fort Wayne shot 47% from the field.

Next Up: These teams rematch on Sunday evening in Sioux Falls. Two wins already by Fort Wayne mean nothing now.

Kansas City 48 @ IUPUI 44

What You Need To Know: So close again for IUPUI… As bad as they’ve been at times, this team does not deserve to end the year like this. They’ve been close too many times. Up 27-26 at the half IUPUI saw Kansas City take the lead at 31-30 with 12:09 left… that must have been an ugly eight minutes with just 8 points scored. The next three saw no more… the score was just 31-30 with 9 minutes left. Kansas City never gave the lead up although IUPUI had chances late including Greg Rice at the FT line with nine seconds left down two. The 64% FT shooter missed them both.

Interesting Stat Lines: Kansas City got 11 points on 4-9 shooting from Nelson Kirksey. Kirksey also added six rebounds and three assists to lead the team in both categories. IUPUI got 19 points on 6-9 shooting to go with seven rebounds and five blocks. Patton has been a very bright point for the Jaguars. This wasn’t a strong offensive game (like the 48-44 score didn’t tell you that). IUPUI shot 32%, Kansas City just 32%. The Roos ended up with 30% of their own misses while IUPUI got just 11%.

Next Up: Kansas City nabs the six seed and they’ll face North Dakota State on Sunday. IUPUI as the #8 seed has to play South Dakota State next Saturday.

South Dakota 59 @ Western Illinois 61 

What You Need To Know: Playing without Terell Parks once again, Western Illinois got down big early, 11-0, before storming back for the win. They were down 15-4 with 11:20 left in the first half before a 9-0 run made it a two point game. The score was tied at the half at 23. Then Ceola Clark III made sure his team got the win. He hit six threes in the second half on eight shots as Western Illinois and South Dakota had a mini scoring explosion. 46 combined points in the first half, 38 for Western Illinois in the 2nd. While South Dakota got the lead down to one on a Juevol Myles three with 18 seconds left Remy Roberts-Burnett hit a FT to provide the final margin as Western Illinois survived.

Interesting Stat Lines: Ceola Clark III… 6-11 from three, 27 points, five rebounds, four assists, three steals. Trevor Gruis added 18 points and nine rebounds on 6-7 shooting with 7-8 FT shooting. Western Illinois could have put this away earlier but went just 8-14 on FTs.

Next Up: These two will rematch on Saturday night in Sioux Falls…. winner take all

Men’s Player of the Night: Ceola Clark III the clear choice as his 10-15 shooting (6-11 from three… 6-8 in the second half) with five rebounds, four assists, there steals. Great performance when his team needed it.

Women’s Basketball

Kansas City 41 @ Omaha 68

What You Need To Know: Omaha completely dominated this game. Their four seniors put on a show and accounted for 54 of 68 points. The loss meant Kansas City was stuck as the 7 seed.

Interesting Stat Lines: Jamie Nash was fantastic for Omaha. 7-11 from the field, 3-3 from three, for 17 points. Five rebounds, there steals and 12 assists. Only one turnover too. Paige Frauendorfer had 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Most night’s that would be the best in the league. Carolyn Blair-Mobley added a solid 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Taijhe Kelly had five blocks for Omaha. Kansas City was led by Lexis Hardiek who had 11 points while Eilise O’Connor struggled going 3-17 from the field for eight points. She did add seven rebounds, six assists, and three steals though. Omaha shot 45% and 7-16 from deep while Kansas City was just 28% and 4-18 from three. Omaha also only turned it over nine times to 17 for Kansas City.

Next Up: Kansas City will be the #7 seed vs. IUPUI on Saturday. Omaha’s season is over.

Fort Wayne 67 @ IUPUI 82 – Game of the Week

What You Need To Know: IUPUI was up 41-31 at the half and although the lead was briefly as low as three it was never within 10 after the 4:46 mark.

Interesting Stat Lines: IUPUI got an amazing 29 points from Kerah Nelson on 13-14 shooting. She had a double-double with 11 rebounds as well. DeAirra Goss was second with 16 points on 6-11 shooting. Fort Wayne got 19 from Haley Seibert and 14 points from Amanda Hyde. IUPUI shot 61% from the field, 65% on 2FG, while Fort Wayne was at 40%. Fort Wayne went 22-30 on FTs. IUPUI grabbed 11 of their 22 possible offensive rebounds while Fort Wayne grabbed just 21%.

Next Up: IUPUI will be the #2 seed hosting Kansas City on Saturday. Fort Wayne as the #4 seed will be playing Western Illinois on Sunday.

Oakland 53 @ Western Illinois 64

What You Need To Know: This one was tight at 28-26 Western Illinois at the half. While Oakland never took the lead it was 55-53 with 4:52 left before Oakland ended the game on a 9-0 run to pull away.

Interesting Stat Lines: Western Illinois got ANOTHER double-double from Ashley Luke her 4th in six games (and she was one rebound away last time out). 11 points and 13 rebounds tonight but only 4-13 from the field. Saule Kontautaite had 20 after going 4-9 from deep. Oakland got 10 points, six rebounds, and four steals from Sinclair Russell. Olivia Nash had 15 points on 6-9 shooting. Western Illinois grabbed 20 offensive rebounds (45% of those available) while Oakland had just 6 (17% of available).

Next Up: Western Illinois as the five seed will play Fort Wayne (who they just beat on Thursday) on Sunday. Oakland as the #8 seed is offered up to South Dakota State on Saturday.

South Dakota State 94 @ North Dakota State 70

What You Need To Know: This wasn’t a game that South Dakota State needed to win but it didn’t effect their play at all as they dominated, up 54-27 at the half before cruising to the win.

Interesting Stat Lines: South Dakota State got 15 points on 4-6 shooting from Megan Waytashek. She added six rebounds, six assists and two steals. Ashley Eide added 22 on 9-17 shooting and had six rebounds as well. Mariah Clarin came off the bench to score 17 points in 13 minutes. North Dakota State may have been beaten by 24, but it wasn’t like they didn’t have some bright spots. Danielle DeGagne ended her home career with a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds on 9-14 shooting. Jamie VanKirk added 19 points going 4-7 from three. South Dakota State was better in every area of the game, though not overwhelmingly so other than grabbing 35% of offensive rebounds compared to North Dakota State’s 22%.

Next Up: South Dakota State will play Oakland in the 1-8 game on Saturday while North Dakota State will be the 6 seed against South Dakota on Sunday.

Women’s Player of the Night: Kerah Nelson was the best of the day with 29 points on 13-14 shooting! 3-3 from the FT line as well… 11 rebounds, two assists, one steal. Did turn it over five times… but come on! What a game regardless.

Upcoming Games
All Times CT

Men’s Basketball – 3/9
(1) South Dakota State 22-9 (13-3) vs. (8) IUPUI 6-25 (1-15) – 6 PM
(2) Western Illinois 21-7 (13-3) vs. (7) South Dakota 10-19 (5-11) – 8:30 PM

Women’s Basketball – 3/9
(1) South Dakota State 22-7 (14-2) vs. (8) Oakland 9-19 (3-13) – 12 PM
(2) IUPUI 19-10 (12-4) vs. (7) Kansas City 9-20 (5-11) – 2:30 PM

2012-13 Omaha Women’s Basketball – Game #28 Recap – Kansas City

Saturday harkened back to the days of the non-conference season this year for Omaha. Games where the Mavericks were rolling, where Omaha was a ton of fun to watch, and where you wondered what this team was capable of. After a rough slide through conference play that left us wishing to see the Mavericks of the first half of the year they made one final appearance.

Jamie Nash was so spectacular in this game. I’m not even afraid to say it, this was her BEST performance over the last two years. She did everything right for Omaha on Saturday. Tenacious on defense with three steals, she was even better on offense where she went 7-11 from the field and 3-3 from three go put up 17 points. She had 12 assists including a number that I was amazed she could even get to the teammates, weaving passes through Kansas City’s helpless defenders. She even had a season low of 1 turnover. If you had to play one last game, this was it.

Paige Frauendorfer was great too. She’s had less up-and-down performances this year so her 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and four steals don’t look quite as good compared to her season as a whole, but still looking through the season I don’t find a better performance this season. She was very unselfish and probably could have made a run at a career high in points but didn’t force her shot in the second half when she could have tried to.

Carolyn Blair-Mobley started a bit slow but her 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, and there steals still were quite the stat line. She might not have been her long but her single year contribution was about as good as we’ve seen at Omaha in a long time.

Carly Cator had one of her better games of the conference season with two points, three rebounds, and an assist. She hasn’t put up spectacular numbers but she’s always provided solid minutes and doesn’t make mistakes. Something you need on a team like this.

Taijhe Kelly did her thing again with five blocks, eight rebounds, and four points. She ended up with the best ever year of blocking shots in school history. I don’t worry about totals, she was limited to 28 games, instead I look at the average where she became the first Maverick EVER to block over 2.6 blocks per game in a season. She’s 3rd in the country in block rate (she blocks 10.26% of opponent’s 2FG attempts while on the court) and the prospect of two more years of her is hard to think of.

The situation for the women is quite different than for the men. While the men had some strong games, they still lost 20 games and will be looking to next year when they bring back four starters and look to improve on the year.

The women on the other hand lose four starters and so much of their production. It will be a huge challenge to replace all of that next year when no one on the roster is jumping out as obvious replacements. Omaha’s bench didn’t do much this year, and while that doesn’t mean they can’t next year it does mean there’s a lot of uncertainty.

For the women it was all about this year and they showed that Omaha is capable of competing at this level. Omaha finished 7-9 but they could easily have been at .500 or above with two of their last four losses coming down to the final second. The Mavericks will need to find the next Jamie Nash and Paige Frauendorfer, but when they do there’s no doubt that the team can be successful. Omaha just took two Division 2 recruits and they blossomed into All-Summit level players. With the ability to recruit at a higher level due to the move to D1 and success of a team like this I think you’ll see the program rebound quickly. Maybe not next year, but certainly over the next few.

I was hoping for a win like this to end the year so much. I wasn’t sure we’d get it and in my wildest dreams I never thought it would be THAT good. It was like a montage at the end of a movie where you get to see all the best parts one last time. The excitement on the faces and the great crowd support were awesome to see and left everyone with a really great taste from this season. What a season it was.

It was Over When: Almost any time at halftime or later you knew this was meant to be. Pick the layup by Jamie Nash that made it 46-23 with 14:51 left for the sake of having a moment.

Player of the Game: Jamie Nash gets it one last time. Both her and Frauendorfer were fantastic, but Nash was probably just a bit more top class.

Season Total:
Paige Frauendorfer (10)
Carolyn Blair-Mobley (7)
Jamie Nash (5)
Taijhe Kelly (4)
Cathleen Cox (1)
Casse Vaughn (1)

Efficiency Ratings:
Jamie Nash – 31
Paige Frauendorfer – 27
Carolyn Blair-Mobley – 16
Taijhe Kelly – 10
Carly Cator – 4
Casse Vaughn – 2
Stacia Gebers – 1
Ericka House – 1
Allison Jackson – 1
Myhiah Dotzler – 0
Kate Bayes – 0

Season Average:
Paige Frauendorfer – 14.9
Carolyn Blair-Mobley – 12.4
Jamie Nash – 10.0
Taijhe Kelly – 7.8
Ericka House – 5.6
Casse Vaughn – 4.8
Carly Cator – 3.1
Stacia Gebers – 2.5
Cathleen Cox – 2.4
Kate Bayes – 1.4
Myhiah Dotzler – 0.8
Allison Jackson – 0.7

Team Ratings: Pace was not horrible, Omaha was great on both ends. Shooting – good, turnovers – good, rebounding – average, passing – fantastic, free throws – didn’t matter.

Possessions: 65
Offensive Points per Possession : 1.05
Defensive Points per Possession : 0.61
eFG%: 50.8%
Turnover Rate: 13.9%
Offensive Rebounding: 31.0%
Defensive Rebounding: 71.4%
A/B%: 78.6%
Floor%: 52.1%
FT Prod: 8.1

Response to 3 things to watch:
1) Race to 50? – Omaha won the race to 50 and thus won. Of course they didn’t need nearly 50… And they won the race to 60. Awesome.

2.) Rebounding Advantage – Omaha didn’t really do a great job here actually as they were not at the level I thought they could be at. Thankfully the shooting disparity was so high it didn’t matter.

3.) Senior Day – You really felt there was an inspired performance by the seniors and they stepped up and got a win to end their careers.

Prediction Response: Didn’t think Omaha could break out of their cold shooting that well, and they did it against a Kansas City team which isn’t all that bad on defense usually.

2012-13 Omaha Men’s Basketball – Game #31 Recap – North Dakota State

There’s not too much to say after a game like that. Omaha tried but it was never meant to be as North Dakota State rolled 84-57. The season is over and focusing on one last game that doesn’t really mean much seems wrong. The Mavericks were on the losing end of some bad stat comparisons… North Dakota State shot 58%, 7-17 from three, while Omaha was just 33% and 3-17 from three. Omaha got two more offensive rebounds than North Dakota State, but out of 21 more opportunities. North Dakota State went 17-23 from the FT line while Omaha only was 12-16. The one thing Omaha did really well was only turn it over 10 times while North Dakota State had 17.

Justin Simmons was finally shut down. 3-10 from the field for just nine points, though he played only 21 minutes. The leader for the Mavericks was Marcus Tyus who scored 10 points in 18 minutes, though six of those game in the 2nd half with the outcome no longer in doubt.

North Dakota State is dang good. They’re going to be a tough out in Sioux Falls and man does a rematch with Western Illinois in Sioux Falls look interesting. Slow… but interesting.

Anyways without a lot of fun things to say and with the season over I don’t feel it worth much time devoting to tearing this one apart. Omaha’s just not big and physical enough to play a really good mid-major team like this. Next few years could change that, but it’s going to take a little time. I’ll post a recap of the season where I can be much more glowingly positive because there is no doubt that this year’s team was a MAJOR success. 11 wins and 6 in conference was a great return. They laid a great foundation for futures teams.

It was Over When: It could be argued it was over at the half, or even early in the second half as Omaha was playing all bench players to try anything. Those guys did get the score to 56-39 with 13:48 left, not an impossible margin, but you knew it was over when North Dakota State went on an 11-0 run to make it 67-39.

Player of the Game: Marcus Tyus is your player of the game. No one played real spectacular but Tyus did manage 10 points and four rebounds in 18 minutes of play. He was even an efficient 5-9 from the field. I’m not sure how much Tyus’ role will expand next year but the future is certainly bright for him.

Season Total:
Justin Simmons (9)
John Karhoff (8)
Matt Hagerbaumer (4)
Alex Welhouse (4)
Marcus Tyus (2)
Alex Phillips (1)
Caleb Steffensmeier (1)
CJ Carter (1)
Tyler Egli (1)

Efficiency Ratings:
Marcus Tyus – 8
Matt Hagerbaumer – 5
Alex Phillips – 5
C.J. Carter – 5
John Karhoff – 3
Justin Simmons – 3
Alex Welhouse – 3
Caleb Steffensmeier – 1
Jacques Coleman – 1
Simon Krych – 1
Tyler Egli – 0

Season Average:
Justin Simmons – 13.0
John Karhoff – 11.4
C.J. Carter – 8.7
Alex Welhouse – 8.3
Alex Phillips – 6.5
Matt Hagerbaumer – 6.1
Marcus Tyus – 5.2
Caleb Steffensmeier – 5.1
Koang Doluony – 3.1
Jacques Coleman – 2.2
Simon Krych – 1.6
Tyler Egli – 1.3

Team Ratings: Pace was pretty high for a North Dakota State game. Omaha actually did much better defensively than the first matchup, they were just even worse offensively today than that matchup. Omaha didn’t shoot well and didn’t grab a lot of offensive rebounds, but they were good at not turning it over. The Mavericks didn’t hit the defensive boards all that well, didn’t pick up many assists, and got to the FT line a decent amount.

Possessions: 73
Offensive Points per Possession : 0.79
Defensive Points per Possession : 1.17
eFG%: 35.7%
Turnover Rate: 13.8%
Offensive Rebounding: 20.0%
Defensive Rebounding: 65.2%
A/B%: 38.1%
Floor%: 39.7%
FT Prod: 19.0

Response to 3 things to watch:
1) Pace – The game was played faster than you might expect but it didn’t necessarily help Omaha as all as they couldn’t get on track offensively.

2.) Battle Inside  – Bjorklund and Wright combined for 33 points, nine rebounds, and went 14-20 from the field. Ouch. Karoff and Welhouse put up just 10 points and two rebounds combined as Karhoff only played 15 minutes due to foul trouble. Omaha just isn’t ready for big men like this, and that’s just something that will take time so they can recruit bigger bodies.

3.) Pride – It was definitely a rough way to end the year. It’s not like Omaha quit trying today, but the fate was sealed so early on that the crowd was pretty quiet and it was just a tough day.

Prediction Response: Again though Omaha would be slightly more competitive. It’s surprising to me how much Omaha’s offense was disrupted today for how well they’ve played lately.

All in all… a great year. 11 wins is more than I expected. 6 wins in conference is more than I expected. This team is positioning well to grow into the future and the recruiting classes that are being brought in now are very very important. Marcus Tyus will have a chance to reach the NCAA tournament his senior year. Jalen Bradley will have a chance in his junior year. Incoming recruits Rylan Murry and Nick Billingsley will have the opportunity in their junior or sophomore seasons depending on if they redshirt. That 2015-16 season is what Omaha is building towards and while you can’t expect to be competitive in the Summit League right away you’d love to see a team that season that could win the tournament and go to the NCAA tournament. This team could not match up with the best of the league this year and that’s okay. Wasn’t the goal anyways.

Following the Summit – 2/28/13

Recapping the previous day’s games…

Men’s Basketball

South Dakota 87 @ IUPUI 69

What You Need To Know: South Dakota was up 71-61 with eight minutes left before pulling away for the 18-point win. The win does force Kansas City to beat IUPUI to regain the tie with South Dakota for the 7th place in conference and #6 seed. Poor IUPUI is down to one realistic chance at getting a final win.

Interesting Stat Lines: South Dakota was led by 26 from Trevor Gruis who went 10-15 from the field and 6-6 from the FT line. He also had six rebounds and five assists. Juevol Myles has 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists to back him up. IUPUI was led by 24 points on 12-16 shooting from Mitchell Patton and 12 points, five rebounds, and seven assists from Sean Esposito. It was a good shooting game with South Dakota narrowly better (50% to 58%). South Dakota went 20-25 from the FT line while IUPUI was just 4-11.

Next Up: South Dakota goes to Western Illinois and could lock up the #6 seed with an upset. IUPUI hosts Kansas City in one more attempt to get a 7th win.

South Dakota State 100 @ Omaha 82

What You Need To Know: South Dakota State had a 27 point lead before Omaha cut it down to nine with under four minutes left. South Dakota State clinched the #1 seed and a share of the conference title.

Interesting Stat Lines: SDSU was led by Chad White’s 23 points and nine rebounds on 6-7 three-point shooting. Tony Fiegen went 7-8 scoring 14 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Jordan Dkystra went just 4-13 but grabbed 17 rebound and had 14 points. Nate Wolters had a quiet double double of 18 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds. Woah. Justin Simmons exploded in the second half for 24 points and ended up with 29 on 12-23 shooting. Alex Welhouse went 4-6 from deep to score 16. South Dakota State shot 58% from the field and went 9-20 from three while outrebounding Omaha 50-24 and grabbing 41% of their available offensive rebounds to Omaha’s 16%.

Next Up: South Dakota State will face IUPUI in the 1st round of the Summit Tourney on Sioux Falls on Saturday the 9th at 6 PM. Omaha will host North Dakota State to end the season on Saturday.

Kansas City 50 @ Western Illinois 53

What You Need To Know: Terell Parks didn’t play for Western Illinois and they found themselves down 17-3 after five and a half minutes and 39-21 at the half. They were still down 41-23 with 19:03 left before finally turning it on thanks to Jack Houpt knocking down two threes and Jordan Foster hoisting another one. Foster added a fast break layup and suddenly three minutes later it was a seven point game. It took quite a while for Western Illinois to climb the rest of the mountain but they tied it at 48-48 with 4:09 left and took the lead 22 seconds later on a Michael Ochereobia layup. Kansas City would never see the lead again although they had three possessions down three inside the final minute.

Interesting Stat Lines: Western Illinois led by 14 points from Michael Ochereobia and 13 points from Ceola Clark III who added six assists and four steals. Kansas City got 17 points from Estan Tyler but he also had nine turnovers. Both teams shot well (50% for Kansas City to 48% for Western Illinois) but Western Illinois had only 10 turnovers to 17 for UMKC.

Next Up: Western Illinois hosts South Dakota on Saturday but they’ve already locked up the #2 seed. Kansas City heads to IUPUI. If they win there and South Dakota loses at Western Illinois they will be the 6 seed. Otherwise this game will be played again in Sioux Falls.

Men’s Player of the Night: Trevor Gruis gets it tonight for going 10-15, 6-6 from the FT line for 26 points. He even added six rebounds, five assists and a block while only turning it over once.

Women’s Basketball

Oakland 37 @ IUPUI 59

What You Need To Know: The win locked up the #2 seed for IUPUI and the #8 seed for Oakland. IUPUI has given up 43, 67, 40, 56, 33, 37 in their last six Summit League games. When 56 looks like a high number you know your defense is clicking.

Interesting Stat Lines: IUPUI was led by 14 points, six rebounds, and five blocks from Nevena Markovic. Oakland got a double double of 13 points and 10 rebounds from Elena Popkey. IUPUI shot 42% but that’s great compared to Oakland’s 12-57 shooting (21%) including 1-15 (7%) from three.

Next Up: IUPUI will host Fort Wayne. That’s a 2 vs. 4 matchup in terms of seeding for Sioux Falls since the top four are all locked in now. Oakland will head to Western Illinois.

Fort Wayne 54 @ Western Illinois 73

What You Need To Know: With Western Illinois up 14 late in the first half this one wasn’t close. The loss for Fort Wayne didn’t end up mattering as South Dakota’s win at Omaha meant Fort Wayne was going to be the #4 seed regardless of the turnout of this game. Western Illinois on the other hand got a big win as a win over Oakland will now lock up the #5 seed (and a rematch with Fort Wayne) and even if they lost it would require North Dakota State beating South Dakota State to knock them back from the #5 spot.

Interesting Stat Lines: Western Illinois got 16 points and seven rebounds from Michelle Maher who went 4-6 from deep. Rebecca Henricson had just five points but also added six rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Fort Wayne’s Amanda Hyde was held to 12 points and seven rebounds on 4-12 shooting. Western Illinois out shot the Mastodons 46% to 33% and went 11-24 from three (46%).

Next Up: Western Illinois hosts Oakland looking to lock up the #5 seed and a rematch of this game. Fort Wayne will head to IUPUI for a game that is meaningless for seeding purposes.

South Dakota 50 @ Omaha 39

What You Need To Know: This game was close for quite a while before Omaha just stopped scoring down 41-37. The Mavericks were held scoreless for over six minutes until a late Casse Vaughn basket provide the final margin. South Dakota had already locked up the #3 seed when Fort Wayne lost so this was just gravy heading into the conference tournament.

Interesting Stat Lines: South Dakota got a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds from Margaret McCloud while Omaha’s Paige Frauendorfer scored 14 points on 6-13 shooting to lead all scorers. The Mavericks shot 31% from the field and were 0-8 from three while South Dakota was slightly better at 34% and 4-15 from three. South Dakota grabbed 19 offensive rebounds on 40 opportunities. Pretty dominant.

Next Up: South Dakota heads to the conference tournament where they will play on Sunday as the #3 seed in the afternoon session. If they get a first round win over… whoever they play (North Dakota State or Kansas City) they would also lock up a winning season. Omaha hosts Kansas City to end the season on Saturday afternoon.

Women’s Player of the Night: Not a lot of great performances this evening but Michelle Maher’s probably the best. 16 points on 6-11 shooting including 4-6 from deep. seven rebounds, four assists, a block and just one turnover.

Upcoming Games
All Times CT

Men’s Basketball – 3/2
North Dakota State 21-8 (11-4) @ Omaha 11-19 (6-9) – 3 PM
Fort Wayne 14-16 (6-9) @ Oakland 16-14 (10-5) – 5 PM – Game of the Week
Kansas City 7-23 (4-11) @ IUPUI 6-24 (1-14) – 6:30 PM
South Dakota 10-18 (5-10) @ Western Illinois 20-7 (12-3) – 7 PM

Women’s Basketball – 3/2
Kansas City 9-19 (5-10) @ Omaha 16-11 (6-9) – 2 PM
Fort Wayne 12-15 (8-7) @ IUPUI 18-10 (11-4) – 4 PM – Game of the Week
Oakland 9-18 (3-12) @ Western Illinois 13-15 (6-9) – 4:30 PM
South Dakota State 21-7 (13-2) @ North Dakota State 10-17 (6-9) – 7 PM

2012-13 Omaha Men’s Basketball – Game #30 Recap – South Dakota State

Well it’s hard to know what to say about a game like this. Omaha trailed 16-5 after six minutes and battled for a bit before falling down 43-23 and finally 51-31 at the half. It didn’t get much better in the 2nd half as South Dakota State led 71-44 with 13:21 left and were still up 84-61 with 6:45 to go. Then Omaha started to get back in it via a 14-0 run. South Dakota State during that stretch turned it over, missed a front end of a 1-and-1, turned it over, missed the front end of a 1-and-1, turned it over, and turned it over again. Omaha started getting hot and got out running as Justin Simmons had three fast break layups in the stretch.

Now is that characteristic of the game at a whole? Was it just a bad stretch for the Jackrabbits that made this look close? That’s what I ‘d tend to suggest. South Dakota State had a real bad break as they missed two straight chances at FTs and those things can roll quickly. Of course once South Dakota State got back on track they’d score six straight to go back up by 15 and Omaha never got within single digits again.

South Dakota State is just a much better team than Omaha right now. There’s too much talent and it’s a situation where even the guts of Omaha really need a sloppy performance from South Dakota State to get a win. Instead the Jackrabbits were shooting lights out: 51% in the first half and 19-29 in the second half (66%) to go 58% for the game. They were great from deep, a 9-20 shooting night led by Chad White going 6-7, and were dominant on the glass where they had five more offensive rebounds than UNO despite having 16 less opportunities. That’s dominant. The only thing South Dakota State did wrong was turn it over 15 times.

Omaha wasn’t horrible, they shot a respectable 44% from the field and 35% from three and only turned it over nine times in a very high possession game. Yet not playing horrible isn’t nearly enough in a game like this and so Omaha came up short.

Justin Simmons continues to pile up some incredible point totals. He had 29 points in this one, 24 in the 2nd half, and has now reached the top 15 in school history for points in a season. He’s got 508 this year and just keeps getting better. I think he’s making a strong case for first team All-Summit as he’s averaging 19.4 points per game in conference while shooting 50% from the field and 43% from three! Woah. Add in four rebounds per game and that’s a first team All-Summit pick to me. I think his performance has been better than Frank Gaines who will capture the headlines but isn’t nearly as efficient as Simmons or as good a shooter.

Anyways these are the kind of games you’ll see as Omaha tries to get to South Dakota State’s level and as long as the Mavericks are showing heart and fighting to the end, I don’t think you can have much of a negative reaction to this one.

It was Over When: Very reminiscent of the game against Western Illinois… Omaha trailed 84-61 with 6:45 left. A 23 point lead for SDSU. Yet Caleb Steffensmeier hit a jumper to cap a 14-0 run and make it 84-75 with 3:42 left. Omaha was basically out of time with 7 minutes left, but since they went on that 3-minute run right away it’s hard to call it over. I’ll pick when Caleb Steffensmeier missed a three that would have made it 90-83 but instead Jordan Dykstra rebounded the miss and was fouled, hitting both shots to make it a 12 point game with 1:11 left.

Player of the Game: Justin Simmons gets the nod because he went out and shot 12-23 and hit four of 5 FTs for 29 points. Had five rebounds, four assists, there steals and a block. Whoa.

Season Total:
Justin Simmons (9)
John Karhoff (8)
Matt Hagerbaumer (4)
Alex Welhouse (4)
Alex Phillips (1)
Caleb Steffensmeier (1)
CJ Carter (1)
Marcus Tyus (1)
Tyler Egli (1)

Efficiency Ratings:
Justin Simmons – 26
Matt Hagerbaumer – 13
Alex Welhouse – 18
Caleb Steffensmeier – 8
Marcus Tyus – 5
C.J. Carter – 3
John Karhoff – 2
Alex Phillips – 0
Tyler Egli – 0
Jacques Coleman – 0
Simon Krych – 0

Season Average:
Justin Simmons – 13.3
John Karhoff – 11.7
C.J. Carter – 8.8
Alex Welhouse – 8.4
Alex Phillips – 6.6
Matt Hagerbaumer – 6.1
Caleb Steffensmeier – 5.3
Marcus Tyus – 5.1
Koang Doluony – 3.1
Jacques Coleman – 2.2
Simon Krych – 1.6
Tyler Egli – 1.1

Team Ratings: Real fast pace in this one. Omaha didn’t really hit their mark offensively when you consider the pace, and they were definitely a step behind defensively. Didn’t shoot all that great or rebound well, but they did avoid turning it over!

Possessions: 84
Offensive Points per Possession : 0.98
Defensive Points per Possession : 1.28
eFG%: 49.3%
Turnover Rate: 10.8%
Offensive Rebounding: 11.9%
Defensive Rebounding: 57.1%
A/B%: 50.0%
Floor%: 45.1%
FT Prod: 13.7

Response to 3 things to watch:
1) Nate Wolters’ Health – 18 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists. I’d say he’s fine… From all accounts he wasn’t hobbled at all while playing 39 minutes. With over a week off until the Saturday quarterfinal in Sioux Falls (where SDSU should breeze by IUPUI) I’d say Nate Wolters will be just fine on Monday the 11th for the big semifinal matchup with the 4/5 seed.

2.) Shooting – Omaha wasn’t quite as red hot as they needed to be (44% and 35% from three) and they certainly didn’t get a cold night out of South Dakota State who shot 58% and went 9-20 from three.

3.) Crowd – Omaha definitely got a great crowd as the announced attendance was 2656!!! It was the largest home crowd since they drew 3,000 to see the NCC tournament semifinal game against Minnesota State Mankato in March 2005. That team averaged 1,670 home fans and had crowds of 2700, 2500, 2050, 2200, 2600, and 1500 in conference play. Those numbers look great now with an average of 1214 fans this year boosted by last night and the 2224 that came to the season opener.

Prediction Response: I thought this game would be a lot more competitive. I know Omaha cut into it late, but it was an 18 point loss and Omaha trailed by 27 after 3/4 of the game.

Upcoming Opponent: Omaha will host North Dakota State on Saturday to end the season. Senior day for Alex Welhouse, Tyler Egli, and Jacques Coleman. It’d be great to get a huge win to send them out.

2012-13 Omaha Women’s Basketball – Game #27 Recap – South Dakota

Things just aren’t working out for the Mavericks down the stretch. We’ve always known that Omaha probably has a bit of a talent gap with some of their Summit League competitors since the Mavericks didn’t know they’d be a Division 1 team as of 24 months ago, but perhaps it’s finally being put on display. Despite all the hustle plays by the Mavericks, in particular Frauendorfer and Nash who are always ready to go diving after loose balls it seems, Omaha just hasn’t been able to hit shots over the last couple months.

It’s really just all too bad. They had a great nonconference record and a 3-1 start in conference gave a lot of hope to the season. A top four finish? Pushing for the postseason? All of those things were in play. Except Omaha’s shooting went cold and down went the Mavs. Omaha is shooting just 37% from the field and is the worst shooting team in the Summit League during conference play.

The Mavericks have lost eight of their last 11 conference games and need to beat Kansas City on Saturday or they’ll finish at 6-10 and with only a sweep of Oakland in conference play. At 6-10 the Mavericks would lose the tiebreaker to Western Illinois (swept North Dakota State), North Dakota State (beat IUPUI), and Kansas City (beat South Dakota). Omaha could actually wind up in 8th place still after such a bright start.

As far as what happened on Thursday night it’s a familiar script; Omaha didn’t hit their shots and couldn’t grab enough rebounds to stay in the game. Omaha’s defense has usually been pretty good this year. They have been giving up just 0.857 points per possession during conference play, 4th in the Summit League and good enough to win most games. Unfortunately the offense hasn’t kept up and it’s cost Omaha time and time again.

Taijhe Kelly was limited to just 15 minutes in this one as she struggled with foul trouble. I don’t usually get critical of officiating and I’m not even sure any of the calls were actually bad, but I thought there might have been a weak call or two on her. Only 20 fouls were called in the game and I thought there was a lot of physical play when Omaha was on offense, so it was weird to see her get four fouls in 15 minutes. She still got three blocks in 15 minutes, a good sign that in a full game she would have been right on track for her 5+.

Of course did Omaha really miss Kelly? Interior defensive wasn’t the problem and Kelly only grabbed one defensive rebound in 15 minutes. Stacia Gebers played in Kelly’s place and had a fantastic evening scoring nine points and grabbing five rebounds (though only one defensively) in 18 minutes.

Credit to Carolyn Blair-Mobley and Paige Frauendorfer who grabbed nine and five defensive rebounds respectively. They were the only Mavericks to grab at least three defensive rebounds on a night where South Dakota had FOUR players grab at least three offensive rebounds.

The Mavericks should be a bit worried when they look at this South Dakota team. They’ll lose a couple of starters in Tempestt Wilson and Alexis Yackley, but there will still be some real threats on this team in sophomore Nicole Seekamp, sophomore Lisa Loeffler, freshman Margaret McCloud, and junior Polly Harrington. They will be very tough in the coming few years and Omaha does not have an answer for them right now.

Hopefully we see a better performance on Saturday. I’m just itching to see one more Maverick win this season. As hard as the seniors have fought and with how much they’ve been through I think they deserve it.

It was Over When: This one became over when Omaha kept missing and missing and missing down 13. South Dakota scored their last point to make it 50-37 with 4:33 left. Let’s say Taijhe Kelly’s missed layup with 1:42 left was the end of the end…. but really it seemed over for a large part of that stretch when Omaha couldn’t buy a basket.

Player of the Game: Paige Frauendorfer was the best of the bunch going 6-13 from the field and hitting both of her FTs to score 14. She added five rebounds but no other stats.

Season Total:
Paige Frauendorfer (10)
Carolyn Blair-Mobley (7)
Jamie Nash (4)
Taijhe Kelly (4)
Cathleen Cox (1)
Casse Vaughn (1)

Efficiency Ratings:
Paige Frauendorfer – 11
Stacia Gebers – 9
Jamie Nash – 7
Taijhe Kelly – 3
Carly Cator – 3
Casse Vaughn – 1
Carolyn Blair-Mobley – 1
Ericka House – 0

Season Average:
Paige Frauendorfer – 14.4
Carolyn Blair-Mobley – 12.3
Jamie Nash – 9.3
Taijhe Kelly – 7.7
Ericka House – 5.8
Casse Vaughn – 4.9
Carly Cator – 3.1
Stacia Gebers – 2.6
Cathleen Cox – 2.4
Kate Bayes – 1.6
Myhiah Dotzler – 0.8
Allison Jackson – 0.7

Team Ratings: Really low number of possessions. Horrible offensive number but a decent defensive number. Problem was shooting as turnovers weren’t bad. Offensive rebounding number not fantastic and defense rebounding number really bad. Omaha did pass the ball fine (10 assists on 18 baskets) but didn’t get to the FT line much.

Possessions: 62
Offensive Points per Possession : 0.63
Defensive Points per Possession : 0.84
eFG%: 30.5%
Turnover Rate: 17.8%
Offensive Rebounding: 28.6%
Defensive Rebounding: 54.1%
A/B%: 55.6%
Floor%: 40.0%
FT Prod: 5.1

Response to 3 things to watch:
1) Omaha’s Shooting – 30.5% and 0-8 from three… yep.

2.) Interior Defense – Omaha actually did a really good job here. They held South Dakota to just 16-44 (36%) shooting on twos and didn’t even pay for it on threes as South Dakota was 4-15 (37%).

3.) Offensive Glass – Omaha was strong on the offensive glass in the first half but that didn’t last and at the end of the day they were below average on both the offensive glass and defensive glass, something they haven’t been able to overcome for a win so far this year.

Prediction Response: Pretty close on South Dakota’s total but really disappointing that the Mavericks couldn’t even hit 40.

Upcoming Opponent: Omaha hosts Kansas City to end the season on Saturday at 2 PM. This season will always be a little disappointing when you think of how it’s ended but it’d be nice to get one last win out of it.

Following the Summit – 2/26/13

Recapping the previous day’s games…

Men’s Basketball

Utah Valley 56 @ North Dakota State 63

What You Need To Know: This wasn’t an easy one for the Bison. They were down 12-5 after five minutes and it was tied 29-29 at the half and 48-48 with 8:37 to go. A quick 7-0 North Dakota State run made it 55-48 and the lead never got below five the rest of the way. Taylor Braun returned from his broken bone in his foot and played 18 minutes but did not score.

Interesting Stat Lines: North Dakota State was led by 14 from Marshall Bjorklund who also had eight rebounds. Utah Valley got a big 25 points on 7-13 shooting and 9-9 FT shooting from their center Ben Aird who also had six rebounds. Both teams were mediocre shooting at 40%. The big difference maker in the game was North Dakota State grabbing 12 of the available 36 offensive rebounds (33%) while holding Utah Valley to just five of 30 (16.7%).

Next Up: North Dakota State heads to Omaha on Saturday. If they play like they did in this one Omaha will really rest them.

Men’s Player of the Night: Marshall Bjorklund get the nod with 14 points and eight rebounds on 6-11 shooting. He also had an assist, a block, and two steals.

Upcoming Games
All Times CT

Men’s Basketball – 2/28
South Dakota 9-18 (4-10) @ IUPUI 6-23 (1-13) – 6:30 PM
South Dakota State 21-9 (12-3) @ Omaha 11-18 (6-8) – 7 PM
Kansas City 7-22 (4-10) @ Western Illinois (11-3) – 7:30 PM

Women’s Basketball – 2/28
Oakland 9-17 (3-11) @ IUPUI 17-10 (10-4) – 4 PM
Fort Wayne 12-14 (8-6) @ Western Illinois 12-15 (5-9) – 7 PM
South Dakota 14-14 (9-6) @ Omaha 16-10 (6-8) – 7 PM

2012-13 Omaha Track and Field – Event #9 Recap – Summit League Indoor Championships – Monday

Monday Results
The Mavericks didn’t set a bunch of personal bests on Monday at the Summit League Championship. Denneil Shaw and Jessica Ripp both did so in the triple jump while Kathie-Lee Laidley in the high jump, Maja Mihalinec in the 200m, and the 4x400m relay team of Terri Armstrong, Lauren Psota, Katarina Zarudnaya, Sami Spenner all set season bests.

No the real success of Omaha’s track team on Monday was how they did in direct competition with their Summit League peers. Sami Spenner won her 3rd individual event of the Championships in the triple jump with a jump of 12.43m. Teammate Maja Mihalinec added Omaha’s fourth individual title in the 60m dash with a time of 7.58.

Omaha went 1-2 in the triple jump as Denneil Shaw ended up in 2nd with a 11.76m jump. Mihalinec added a second in the 200m with a time of 24.42 to go with her 60m dash win. Kathie-Lee Laidley finished in a tie for 2nd in the high jump after clearing 1.73m. Finally the aforementioned 4x400m relay team came in 2nd after their fantastic time of 3:52.20.

Omaha had two 3rd place finishers, Amanda Vorthmann in the mile with a time of 5:03.04 and Katarina Zarudnaya with a 2:20.66 800 meter race.

Spenner added two fourth place finishes, one in the high jump after clearing 1.68m and one in the 60m hurdles for her 8.69. She ended up with four top five finishes on Monday to go along with the two on Sunday. A fantastic three championships, one runner-up, and two fourths for her this weekend.

Overall Omaha captured four individual titles, five second places, two third place finishes and a grand total of 15 top five finishes. This led Omaha to finish 2nd after narrowly beating out South Dakota 118-114. North Dakota State ran away with the title as expected with 186 points. They’ll be a tough team to top for Omaha in the next couple years.

Omavs.com is reporting that Amanda Vorthmann was battling flu-like symptoms this weekend. A tough break for the great runner who did get a 3rd but was not at her best. Hopefully she can give a strong finish to her career in the outdoor season and perhaps win an individual title in the Summit League Championships.

Here’s the final team standings. Omaha will be really happy with 2nd place.
1 – 186 – North Dakota State
2 – 118 – Omaha
3 – 114 – South Dakota
4 – 86 – Kansas City
5 – 73 – South Dakota State
6 – 43 – Oakland
7 – 34 – Western Illinois
8 – 9 – Fort Wayne

Monday
Women’s Triple Jump – 12.43m/11.76m/11.70m – SR 13.76m
Points: 21
1st – 12.43m – Sami Spenner
2nd – 11.76m – Denneil Shaw – PR
6th – 11.24m – Jessica Ripp – PR

Women’s Shot Put – Preliminaries – SR 14.99m
14th – 12.60m – Elizabeth Thompson

Women’s 1 Mile – 5:00.22/5:02.89/5:03.04 – SR 4:56.57 – Amanda Vorthmann (2013)
Points: 6
3rd – 5:03.04 – Amanda Vorthmann
9th – 5:17.89 – Ashley Kildow
11th- 5:19.92 – Nicole Behm

Women’s High Jump – 1.81m/1.73m/1.73m – SR 1.78m – Kathie-Lee Laidley (2011)
Points: 12
2nd – 1.73m – Kathie-Lee Laidley – SB
4th – 1.68m – Sami Spenner

Women’s 60m Dash – 7.58/7.60/7.63 – SR 7.49 – Maja Mihalinec (2010)
Points: 10
1st – 7.58 – Maja Mihalinec

Women’s 60m Hurdles – 8.47/8.48/8.56 – SR 8.55
Points: 8
4th – 8.69 – Sami Spenner
6th – 8.97 – Kathie-Lee Laidley

Women’s 800m – 2:18.97/2:19.47/2:20.66 – SR 2:07.14
Points: 7
3rd – 2:20.66 – Katarina Zarudnaya
8th – 2:22.43 – Lauren Psota

Women’s 200m – 23.98/24.42/24.61 – SR 23.93
Points: 8
2nd – 24.42 – Maja Mihalinec – SB

Women’s 5000m – 17:02.31/17:11.69/17:21.04 – SR 17:30.66 – Amanda Vorthmann (2013)
9th – 17:52.28 – Amanda Vorthmann

Women’s 4x400m Relay – 3:50.40/3:52.20/3:54.45 – SR 3:43.37
Points: 8
2nd – 3:52.20 – Omaha ‘A’ – Terri Armstrong, Lauren Psota, Katarina Zarudnaya, Sami Spenner – SB

Summary for Monday:
Winners for Omaha: (2)
Sami Spenner – Triple Jump
Maja Mihalinec – 60m Dash

Runner-ups for Omaha: (4)
Denneil Shaw – Triple Jump
Kathie-Lee Laidley – High Jump
Maja Mihalinec – 200m
4x400m Relay – Omaha ‘A’ – Terri Armstrong, Lauren Psota, Katarina Zarudnaya, Sami Spenner

3rd places for Omaha: (2)
Amanda Vorthmann – 1 Mile
Katarina Zarudnaya – 800m

4th places for Omaha: (2)
Sami Spenner – High Jump, 60m Hurdles

5th places for Omaha: (0)

Omaha season bests: (3)
Kathie-Lee Laidley – High Jump
Maja Mihalinec – 200m
4x400m Relay – Omaha ‘A’ – Terri Armstrong, Lauren Psota, Katarina Zarudnaya, Sami Spenner

Omaha personal bests: (2)
Denneil Shaw – Triple Jump
Jessica Ripp – Triple Jump

Omaha school records: (0)

Next Scheduled Meet:
Omaha’s not eligible for the NCAA Championships so they won’t be taking place in any qualifiers or NCAA Championship events over the next few weeks. That gives the team a few weeks without competition until they head to the Tulsa Duals down in Oklahoma on Saturday, March 16th. Omaha will compete in 10 events this spring before heading to the Summit League Outdoor Championship in Muncie, Indiana in early May.

Omaha competed at the Tulsa Duals last year winning four events and beating two opponents, Tulsa and Kansas State, in head to head scoring. Dual meets are scored 5-3-1 for the top three finishers between the two schools in each event and with 5 points to the relay team with the faster time.

2013 Omaha Softball – Games #11, #12, #13, & #14 Recaps – Evansville and Jackson State

After rain changed the schedule around at the Jackson State Tournament Omaha only got four games. They did the best with the situation winning all four to move to 13-1 on the season.

Omaha 6, Evansville 5

Omaha might have felt it was going to be easy after a first innings where they had three hits and two runs but it was definitely not the case. Evansville rallied for two in the 2nd to tie it right back up. In the 2nd inning Omaha added two more, one by way of a Tonya Peterson home run. Evansville again answered right back as Kayla Wyatt was chased without getting an out in the 3rd having given up four runs on four hits and four walks. Omaha didn’t threaten in the 4th but scored two more in the 4th including the game-winning run on a Lindsay Redding RBI single. Evansville got one back in the 6th but left a runner on 2nd as Omaha got out of the inning. Omaha sent Evansville down 1-2-3 in the 7th to get the win.

Best hitting performance: Allie Mathewson went 3-4 with an RBI. She also stole a base for the Mavericks.

Pitching recap: Rough at times for Omaha. Kayla Wyatt went two innings but gave up four runs, four hits, and four walks. Ashton Hughes came in for the next 3.1 innings and gave up another run on three hits and walk. Finally Dana Elsasser came in and shut things down with only one hit allowed in 1.2 innings.

Omaha 5, Jackson State 0

Omaha got a run in the first inning on a Campbell Ditto homerun and one more in the 3rd after Allie Mathewson doubled and scored on a Amber Lutmer fly out. The game stayed tied though until the 7th when the Mavericks busted it open with three runs, two of those on a Molly Negrete double. Jackson State had runners on in four innings but never advanced a runner past second. The game ended when Omaha doubled off a Jackson State base runner on a throw from RF Lindsay Redding to 1B Amber Lutmer after a fly out.

Best hitting performance: I don’t know but I’ll suggest Tonya Peterson. She went 2-3 with an RBI and a walk.

Pitching recap: Dana Elsasser went the difference. Two hits and one hit batter all that Jackson State was able to do against her.

Omaha 9, Evansville 1 (6 innings)

Evansville actually took an early 1-0 lead in this one after the first inning. Omaha didn’t get their first hit until the 3rd when they loaded the bases with no outs. Omaha got only one run out of the inning. In the 4th the Mavericks broke it open with five runs headlined by a Amber Lutmer home run. Omaha added two in the 5th and one in the 6th to go up 9-1 and end this one after 6 innings. Dana Elsasser was fairly good as usual giving up six hits and a walk but only allowing a single run.

Best hitting performance: Amber Lutmer was pretty fantastic as she went 2-4 with two RBIs and a run. She had a HR on the afternoon.

Pitching recap: Dana Elsasser strong in six innings giving up six hits, a walk, and a hit batter and a single run. She struck out two.

Omaha 3, Evansville 2

Omaha scored first grabbing two runs in the 1st inning on an Amber Lutmer home run. The score stayed 2-0 until the 6th inning. In the 6th inning Omaha scored a third run after taking advantage of a few singles. It’s a good thing they got the insurance run though as Evansville would find success in the 7th. After the first two batters got on base Omaha got a double play to get within an out of getting out of the inning. Ashton Hughes and Dana Elsasser each walked a batter to load the bases. After an RBI single an error by Tonya Peterson left the door open as the bases were loaded again. Fortunately Dana Elsasser got the final out and Omaha got the 3-2 win.

Best hitting performance: Amber Lutmer went 1-2 with a walk, run, and home run. They list her as having one RBI, but it was a 2-run home run so I don’t understand that.

Pitching recap: Ashton Hughes got her first start and went 6.2 innings giving up the two runs on three hits and six walks. She struck out four. Dana Elsasser game in and walked a batter and gave up a hit but still was able to avoid giving up any more runs.

Upcoming opponent:
Omaha’s not supposed to head South next weekend, instead it’s west to Fort Collins, Colorado and the Colorado State Classic. The Mavericks are scheduled to play two games Friday morning, one game Saturday afternoon, and two games on Sunday. The current forecasted temperatures are 46 on Friday, 54 on Saturday and 55 on Sunday with no chance of precipitation! It’d be beautiful weather for an early season tournament.

Omaha’s supposed to face Bradley once, Brown twice, Colorado State once, and Washington once.

Bradley is 8-6 on the year including a 2-1 win over Arizona in Tempe on the opening weekend. They also have played Fort Wayne, splitting two games (winning 8-6 and losing 2-12). They faced IUPUI on Saturday winning 9-5. They have won five straight games now.

Brown will not have played a game before they face Omaha on Friday. One would think that would play to Omaha’s advantage. Brown was 10-27 last year.

Colorado State is 6-9 this year including a 17-16 nine inning win over Kansas City in New Mexico earlier this year. They went 0-5 last weekend.

Washington is 10-5 on the season and ranked #22 in the latest NCAA Top 25 poll. They beat #16 Georgia and #23 Florida State last weekend so they might move up a bit.

No doubt that Omaha will be tested a lot more next weekend than they have been so far this year. Brown would seem to be two winnable games so I think a winning 3-2 type weekend is still doable.

2012-13 Omaha Women’s Basketball – Game #26 Recap – North Dakota State

This was another one of those games that bugs you afterwards. Omaha was so bad at the start and so bad at the start of the second half. If you take away the 23-9 North Dakota State run over 8:53 to start the first half and the 9-0 run in the first 4:02 of the second half then you get a 53-31 Maverick advantage. A dominating performance 27-minute performance by Omaha undone by a bad 13 minutes.

It’s very frustrating when so much good play is undone by a few minutes of struggles but it’s something we’ve seen a few times this year, though perhaps not to this extent. Omaha actually only led this game on one occasion, 35-34 for 30 seconds late in the first half.

Omaha had so many chances in the second half to get back on top. Omaha trailed 52-51 with 6:51 left and cut it two on three occasions after that. With 1:34 left Omaha trailed by four again. Omaha had a lot of chances to get back within a single possession. Carolyn Blair-Mobley missed a three. Jamie Nash turned it over after a steal. Ericka House missed a three. Jamie Nash missed a three, Ericka House rebounded and missed, and finally Taijhe Kelly rebounded it and got it to Carolyn Blair-Mobley who was fouled. After she made two fouls it was a two point game with 21 seconds left.

Katie Birkel hit two FTs for North Dakota State and Omaha answered right back with a Blair-Mobley layup. On the ensuing inbound attempt North Dakota State got it in and called a timeout. One problem… they didn’t have any which meant a technical foul. Two FTs and the ball to the Mavericks. The golden opportunity for the Mavericks sent Paige Frauendorfer to the FT line where she had hit 37 of her last 39 FTs. She couldn’t hit the first one though and hit the 2nd to make it a one point game. Omaha got it in to Frauendorfer but her jumper with two seconds left was no good and time ran out on the Mavericks. Ugh. So close!

As I’ve mentioned in previous recaps, not worth worrying too much about losing a game by a point. Would Omaha’s performance have really been any different had Frauendorfer hit that final jumper and won the game? Not really, just one minor detail. Looking at things overall though this year I see a team that isn’t deep enough but has worked extremely hard to get where they are. I wonder how this team would have ended up if Cathleen Cox hadn’t gotten hurt. Her presence and scoring ability could have been a huge difference maker for Omaha.

Looking at game wide statistics we see that Omaha didn’t shoot well. It wasn’t just one player either. Frauendorfer was 6-17 (35%), Nash was 1-10 (10%), House was 5-16 (31%) and Cator was 0-3. The bright spots were Kelly at 4-6 (67%) and Blair-Mobley at 8-15 (53%).

It’s really incredible how poorly Jamie Nash has been shooting this year. She’s down to 33.5% and has gone 7-40 over the last four games… just 18%. Yikes. I’m not sure what has changed over the last year to drag her shooting percentage so low but it’s been tough to watch. She fights so hard and gets good looks but they just aren’t falling. And I know she’s a point guard and doesn’t have to be a great shooter, but she’s 2nd on the team having taken 23 more shots than Blair-Mobley so it’s hard to ignore her shooting so poorly and scoring 82% of Blair-Mobley points on 109% of the shots.

On a positive note look at the continued development of Taijhe Kelly. She still has a long ways to go in certain areas but she’s already come so far and has been a different player over the last few weeks. Since the Fort Wayne game she has averaged 7 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 5 blocks. It’s been an incredible run of games that has seen her grab 47% of her season total in rebounds, 58% of her season total in assists, and 45% of her season total in blocks, in a stretch where she has played 32% of her season total of minutes. Fantastic.

Now Omaha comes home for the final two games. It’s a rematch with South Dakota where Omaha will look to get revenge and a win against their 6th Summit League opponent of the season. Then senior day against Kansas City as the Mavericks say goodbye to a fantastic senior class. It’s been a fun year and hopefully the Mavericks can end it in style.

It was Over When: Not over to the buzzer sounded this one as Omaha was trying to get the rebound and put it back up.

Player of the Game: Carolyn Blair-Mobley was a big part of the effort as she went 8-15 from the field, 2-2 from the FT line and had 20 points to lead the Mavericks. She added seven rebounds and two steals.

Season Total:
Paige Frauendorfer (9)
Carolyn Blair-Mobley (7)
Jamie Nash (4)
Taijhe Kelly (4)
Cathleen Cox (1)
Casse Vaughn (1)

Efficiency Ratings:
Carolyn Blair-Mobley – 19
Taijhe Kelly – 17
Paige Frauendorfer – 16
Ericka House – 5
Jamie Nash – 3
Stacia Gebers – 0
Casse Vaughn – 0
Carly Cator – 0

Season Average:
Paige Frauendorfer – 14.6
Carolyn Blair-Mobley – 12.7
Jamie Nash – 9.3
Taijhe Kelly – 7.8
Ericka House – 6.0
Casse Vaughn – 5.0
Carly Cator – 3.1
Cathleen Cox – 2.4
Stacia Gebers – 2.3
Kate Bayes – 1.6
Myhiah Dotzler – 0.8
Allison Jackson – 0.7

Team Ratings: Pretty high number of possessions for Omaha. They weren’t great on offense, decent on defense. They didn’t shoot well but did avoid turnovers. They offensive rebounded okay but were not good on the defensive glass. Not a ton of assists and not a lot of FTs.
Possessions: 74
Offensive Points per Possession : 0.84
Defensive Points per Possession : 0.92
eFG%: 39.6%
Turnover Rate: 14.9%
Offensive Rebounding: 28.6%
Defensive Rebounding: 62.5%
A/B%: 45.8%
Floor%: 43.6%
FT Prod: 13.4

Response to 3 things to watch:
1) North Dakota State’s Shooting – Of course North Dakota State took more shots than normal from three and hit a much higher percentage. Of course they did… it’s hard to know how much of it was just them hitting shots and how many times Omaha needed to close out slightly better but it’s not like Omaha can be all that upset about where North Dakota State was shooting from. It’s certainly where you’d want them to take them from.

2.) Someone Help Paige… – After scoring 44% of Omaha’s points on 33% of their shots in the last two games Omaha saw Frauendorfer take only 25% of the shots and score 24% of Omaha’s points. She got some help today and it was absolutely necessary as she was a bit colder than normal. Blair-Mobley’s 20, House’s 13, and Kelly’s 11 were huge.

3.) Turnovers – Omaha had been –10 in turnovers in the first matchup but were +6 today. That was a big turnaround that allowed Omaha to stay in this game. The Mavericks had 11 steals and only had it stolen five times.

Prediction Response: I was a little surprised by how many points both teams were able to put up.

Upcoming Opponent: South Dakota is up next on Thursday. It’s the start of the Mavericks final two-game home stand. Omaha lost a tough game to South Dakota in late December and will want to get out of the season on a high note after losing five of their last seven games.

2012-13 Omaha Men’s Basketball – Game #29 Recap – North Dakota

Omaha’s game against North Dakota on Saturday was a crowd pleaser. While the Mavericks didn’t shoot their best the teams played at high possession game and the back and forth nature of the game made things exciting.

Omaha led 25-13 early and it looked like they had a chance to control the game. It didn’t last as they went cold and a 20-5 North Dakota run gave them a three point lead with 3:10 left in the half. Omaha fought back and an Alex Welhouse three tied things at 41 at the break.

In the second half the two teams were never further than four points apart until there was 1:16 left. North Dakota held the lead for a while and with 4:32 left things were starting to look iffy for Omaha as they trailed by three. Instead Omaha buckled down and closed the game on a 13-2 run to pull away for the eight point win. Justin Simmons hit the crucial three pointer to tie things before John Karhoff hit two layups to push Omaha ahead by four points. After North Dakota had cut the lead back to two Alex Welhouse hit a huge three pointer to put the Mavericks back up five. With two really tough games looming Welhouse may have hit the key shot in his final win.

Omaha did their best to throw this one away, Justin Simmons committed a charge and CJ Carter missed an alley-oop layup as Omaha was up five in the final minute. North Dakota ended up getting three offensive rebounds, missing five shots, and turning it over once while down five. Omaha got away with any defensive lapses and when Alex Phillips was fouled and they called a flagrant foul on Aaron Anderson it was too much for North Dakota to overcome.

The Mavericks got their 11th win of the season and their 10th win over D1 opposition. As usual it was the two main scorers on this team, John Karhoff and Justin Simmons who lead the way, but it was the role players that stood out to me. Alex Welhouse had a great game scoring 13 points and grabbing seven rebounds. He only got to play 22 minutes but did a great job stepping up when asked to and has been a great senior on this team. Caleb Steffensmeier had a bigger role on Saturday playing 27 minutes and contributing in many ways. He scored six points, grabbed two rebounds, had three assists and stole the ball four times.

Riding the good play of John Karhoff, Omaha only used Matt Hagerbaumer for eight minutes but he put in two points, three rebounds, two assists and a block in that time.

Now Omaha ends their season with their two biggest home games. It’s very fun how things have built to this and Omaha is playing great ball lately having won six of their last eight games. Those two losses were Oakland and Western Illinois. Going back even further Omaha’s only losses since January 10th have been Western Illinois (twice), Oakland, and at Cal State Bakersfield, a game where they had a real chance to win. It’s been very impressive to see them beat a good variety of teams and really take care business in winnable games. They haven’t had a big upset yet though and now they’ll get two chances to do that for the first time as a D1 team.

Another interesting note is how strong Omaha’s offense has been in 2013. In their 14 games in 2013 (and New Year’s Eve) Omaha has scored 70 or more points on 12 occasions and have had a player score 20 ore more points in 11 of those 14 games.

It was Over When: When Aaron Anderson committed a technical foul while fouling Alex Phillips with 34 seconds left down five it was ball game. Omaha would hit only two of four FTs out of that but it was still enough to give them a seven point lead that was too much to overcome in half a minute.

Player of the Game: John Karhoff is going to make the season total interesting as he grabbed his 8th of the year. Karhoff went 7-15 from the field and 3-4 from the FT line and had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. He also had three assists and three blocks.

Season Total:
Justin Simmons (8)
John Karhoff (8)
Matt Hagerbaumer (4)
Alex Welhouse (4)
Alex Phillips (1)
Caleb Steffensmeier (1)
CJ Carter (1)
Marcus Tyus (1)
Tyler Egli (1)

Efficiency Ratings:
John Karhoff – 19
Alex Welhouse – 14
Justin Simmons – 13
Caleb Steffensmeier – 13
C.J. Carter – 9
Alex Phillips – 6
Matt Hagerbaumer – 5
Marcus Tyus – 2
Tyler Egli – 0

Season Average:
Justin Simmons – 12.9
John Karhoff – 12.0
C.J. Carter – 9.0
Alex Welhouse – 8.1
Alex Phillips – 6.8
Matt Hagerbaumer – 5.9
Caleb Steffensmeier – 5.2
Marcus Tyus – 5.1
Koang Doluony – 3.1
Jacques Coleman – 2.3
Simon Krych – 1.7
Tyler Egli – 1.5

Team Ratings: Pretty fast pace in fact this was Omaha’s fastest D1 game of the year. Omaha was not spectacular on offense but did play strong defense in this one. The Mavericks didn’t shoot great but didn’t turn it over much and were really strong on the offensive glass. They weren’t real good on the defensive glass. Finally the Mavericks passed the ball well and got to the FT line a good amount.

Possessions: 79
Offensive Points per Possession : 1.05
Defensive Points per Possession : 1.00
eFG%: 48.5%
Turnover Rate: 17.6%
Offensive Rebounding: 37.1%
Defensive Rebounding: 59.0%
A/B%: 60.0%
Floor%: 53.1%
FT Prod: 26.9

Response to 3 things to watch:
1) Justin Simmons vs. Troy Huff – They both hit 20, Huff getting 21, but neither was real great shooting as Huff went 9-21 and Simmons was 6-15. Simmons couldn’t quite get to the rim as effective as in other games. He went just 3-11 from inside the arc but was 3-4 from deep.

2.) Injuries – Brekke and Schuler didn’t play and it’s hard to say just what impact they might have had. I’m sure it would have been a boost to North Dakota to have them though.

3.) Inside Battle – Wilmer, Allard, and Archer combined for 16 points and 14 rebounds in 48 minutes. They went 6-14 from the field. It wasn’t a great showing and considering how well both John Karhoff and Alex Welhouse played I think Omaha won this battle. Doug Archer who averages 1.1 blocks did have three for North Dakota.

Prediction Response: Two off on Omaha’s score and one on North Dakota’s… margin off by one. I’d consider that pretty much nailing it. Omaha looked good and it’s encouraging that they can play with so many teams already in year one of the Summit League membership.

Upcoming Opponent: Omaha will host South Dakota State on Thursday. That will be a very fun night at the Ralston Arena but a tough game.

Following the Summit – 2/22/13, 2/23/13, 2/24/13

Recapping the previous day’s games…

Men’s Basketball – 2/22/13

North Dakota State 53 @ Akron 68

What You Need To Know: Akron pulled away late in the first half and led by 14 at the half. North Dakota State mounted a furious comeback but couldn’t complete it an Akron pulled back away for the win.

Interesting Stat Lines: North Dakota State for 19 points and seven rebounds from Lawrence Alexander. Akron had a 14 point, eight rebound, five block performance by Zeke Marshall and an 11 point, 14 rebound double-double from Demetrius Treadwell. North Dakota State shot just 31% and 5-24 (21%) from three. They went just 6-9 from the FT line while Akron was 14-28.

Next Up: North Dakota State will host Utah Valley on Tuesday night in their final home game.

Men’s Player of the Night: With only one game the choices are limited… so Lawrence Alexander gets it. 8-16 from the field, 2-4 from the FT line. 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Men’s Basketball – 2/23/13

North Dakota 75 @ Omaha 83

What You Need To Know: This was a real good close game. Omaha threatened to pull away in the first half and North Dakota held the lead late in the second half. Omaha tied it a on Justin Simmons three with 3:48 left. That started a 13-2 run to end the game for Omaha. An Alex Welhouse three made it 80-74 with 1:16 left. North Dakota missed five shots down five and committed a turnover, so Omaha held on for the win.

Interesting Stat Lines: Omaha got a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds from John Karhoff. Justin Simmons led Omaha in scoring with 20. Three Mavericks took 15 shots each (Simmons, Karhoff, and CJ Carter). North Dakota was led by 21 points from Troy Huff who also had seven offensive rebounds. Omaha went 18-24 from the FT line while North Dakota struggled to 9-19 FT shooting. Offensive rebounds abounded as the two teams combined for 33 offensive rebounds and 49 defensive rebounds.

Next Up: Omaha hosts South Dakota State on Thursday. It’ll be a tough matchup for the Mavericks.

Milwaukee 95 @ IUPUI 88 – 2 OT

What You Need To Know: Oof. You thought this was the chance for IUPUI to get one more win but they couldn’t do it. IUPUI blew a four point lead with 4:04 left and found themselves down four with 1:40 left. Two P.J. Huber threes sandwiched around two FTs by Milwaukee tied the game. Milwaukee had two chances to win the game in regulation but couldn’t. In Overtime IUPUI had a two point lead with 37 seconds left but gave up a layup with 14 seconds left. Greg Rice had a chance to win it but missed a layup in the final seconds. In the second overtime the two teams were tied at 88 with 2:41 left before Milwaukee went on a 7-0 run to end the game. Five of those seven points were on FTs before the final two points were scored on a fast break layup after a steal.

Interesting Stat Lines: IUPUI had some impressive lines… 22 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists by Sean Esposito. Esposito went 8-25 from the field including 4-14 from deep. Greg Rice had 23 points and seven rebounds on 9-17 shooting. Donovan Gibbs had 15 rebounds and nine points. Milwaukee got 28 points, four rebounds, and six assists from Jordan Aaron who went 9-24 from the field and 7-14 from three. The two teams were a combined 24-62 from three.

Next Up: IUPUI hosts South Dakota on Thursday. The Coyotes have lost six straight Summit League games, so this might be a chance for a Jaguar win still.

Morehead State 79 @ Oakland 82 – OT

What You Need To Know: Oakland trailed by seven points at the half and by 11 early in the 2nd half. Oakland got back into it quickly and took the lead with 11:31 to go in the game. They fell behind again and were down seven with 6:54 left before a 14-0 run put them up seven with 1:28 to go. They promptly blew that lead on a 7-0 run to send the game to OT. Bizarre. That 7-0 run included two FTs on a foul with 1:21 left and an three-point play with 34 seconds left that fouled Travis Bader out of the game. Oakland nearly blew the game in regulation after Morehead State stole the ball with five seconds left and had a three point attempt at the buzzer. The game was very tight in overtime as Oakland took a three point lead with 3:53 to go on a three pointer and would only get FTs the rest of the way. They hit five of eight to get the three point win. Travis Bader tied the all-time school record with his 348th 3-pointer. Remember he’s ONLY a junior!

Interesting Stat Lines: Bader led the way with 27 points shooting 5-8 from three but 10-10 from the FT line. Drew Valentine had 15 points and eight rebounds. Morehead State got 19 points and nine rebounds from Chad Posthumus in the loss, but he was only able to play 23 minutes as he fouled out. Oakland went 29-41 from the FT line while Morehead State was a more effective 21-25. The Golden Grizzlies won despite allowing Morehead State to grab 18 out of 45 available offensive rebounds (40%).

Next Up: Oakland will host Fort Wayne in their final regular season game on Saturday.

Bowling Green 75 @ Fort Wayne 88

What You Need To Know: How about a game that wasn’t close? Fort Wayne lead by 17 at the half and while the lead got as low as nine points that was as close as it would get. Frank Gaines became Fort Wayne’s all-time leading scorer with 1,773 career points.

Interesting Stat Lines: Frank Gaines had 26 points to lead Fort Wayne while Mario Hines had a great game with 12 points, seven rebounds, and four assists on just 5-6 shooting. Bowling Green got 17 points on Chauncey Orr’s great 7-9 shooting. Fort Wayne shot 60% from the field and went 12-18 from three while Bowling Green shot 49% and was just 2-9 from three. Bowling Green stayed in it because they grabbed 12 offensive rebounds out of 32 available (37.5%).

Next Up: Fort Wayne’s final regular season game is at Oakland on Saturday. The two teams will likely rematch in Sioux Falls in the 4-5 game.

South Dakota State 62 @ Murray State 73

What You Need To Know: This game was… weird. South Dakota State looked great in the first half and led 30-16 with 7:10 left in the half. Murray State went on a 15-4 run to cut it to three before the Jackrabbits pulled back out to a 39-33 lead at the break. South Dakota State roared back out to a 47-33 lead in the first few minutes of the second half but were basically dominated after that. It ended up being a 40-11 run that turned a 14-point deficit into a 15-point Murray State lead with 1:18 to go. South Dakota State only scored four points from the 12:32 mark to the 1:09 mark. That 11 minute stretch did them in. Nate Wolters seemed to get a bit banged up in the game but did finish the game. There’s no indication there’s any reason to worry but if he is still hurting the game against Omaha on Thursday could be a lot more interesting.

Interesting Stat Lines: South Dakota State got 18 points and five assists from Nate Wolters and 13 points and seven rebounds from Chad White. Murray State was led by 22 points from Isaiah Canaan who really led the team down the stretch. The two teams were pretty evenly matched in most categories with South Dakota State turning it over 13 times to nine for Murray State. Another factor was Murray State grabbing nine offensive rebounds from 31 opportunities (29%) to just five of 27 for South Dakota State (18.5%).

Next Up: South Dakota State heads to Omaha on Thursday. A win would give the Jackrabbits a share of the regular season title and the #1 seed. A loss would open the door to Western Illinois.

Kansas City 62 @ Tennessee Tech 68

What You Need To Know: This was a good matchup for the teams. The game was tied six times in the first half and five more in the second half, the final with 3:48 to go. Tennessee Tech then scored 10 of the final 14 points to get the six point win. Kansas City had the lead down to three and the ball with a minute to go but turned it over on that possession and wouldn’t get the ball back until down five with 18 seconds left.

Interesting Stat Lines: Kansas City got 16 points and eight rebounds from Nelson Kirksey who went 7-9 from the field. Estan Tyler scored 14 points but didn’t record a single rebound, assist, steal, or block in 35 minutes. Tennessee Tech got 20 points and eight rebounds from Jud Dillard while Dennis Ogbe had a great 7-8 shooting day resulting in 16 points and eight rebounds. Kansas City shot just 39% from the field and 58% on FTs, 11-19. Tennessee Tech was 17-22 from the FT line.

Next Up: Kansas City goes to Western Illinois on Thursday. Kansas City is currently inline for the 6th seed in Sioux Falls and just needs to match South Dakota’s win total next weekend.

Cleveland State 60 @ Western Illinois 54

What You Need To Know: Western Illinois led early 15-4 but gave up nearly all of it, leading only 29-27 at the half. That run ended up being 37-18 by the time Cleveland State held a 41-33 lead with 12:37 to go. Western Illinois was within two with 5:13 left but wasn’t closer than four in the final minute. Western Illinois was dealing with sickness as Jack Houpt played just one minute and Terell Parks injured his ankle after playing 26 minutes. The Parks injury could be a difference maker in the conference tournament if he can’t recover. All I can report is when a fan tweeted him and asked if he was okay he replied “naw”. It probably doesn’t matter that much how they do this weekend so he may get rested some since the conference tournament is all that really matters.

Interesting Stat Lines: Parks was 6-9 for 12 points and had eight rebounds. Adam Link had 15 points to lead the Leathernecks. Ceola Clark III had 10 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Cleveland State got 16 points from Bryn Forbes and Charlie Lee. There were only 48 rebounds available in this game as both teams shot well (49% each) and turned it over a combined 29 times.

Next Up: Western Illinois hosts Kansas City on Thursday. They could probably win that game without Terell Parks and they might have to,

Men’s Player of the Night: I’m going to go with Mario Hines. It’s not eyepopping in terms of pure huge numbers but he scored 12 points, had seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. He was 5-6 form the field and 2-2 on FTs while only turning it over once.

Men’s Basketball – 2/24/13

South Dakota 85 @ Montana State 74

What You Need To Know: South Dakota spotted Montana State 11 points, and still trailed 19-8. So it was a 77-55 finish after that. It didn’t take long for them to get back in the lead. Trailing 23-14 with 5:57 left in the first half they went on a real quick 16-0 run over 3:15 to go up 30-23. The lead was seven at the half before Montana State cut the lead to two in the second half. South Dakota never led by more than six until there was 6:24 left. It ballooned as large at 19, 83-64, before Montana State cut into it late. The largest run for South Dakota was a 75-45 run from when down 11 to up 19.

Interesting Stat Lines: South Dakota only played six players more than four minutes, all of those with 17 minutes or more. Five of them were in double figures with the 6th at nine points. Brandon Bos led the way with 21 points on 6-9 shooting. Montana State got 16 points from Xaiver Blount and 15 from Antonio Biglow. South Dakota shot 49% from the field and went 10-24 from three.

Next Up: South Dakota travels to IUPUI on Thursday. With a win they’ll put pressure on Kansas City to get one more win to stay in the 6th seed.

Men’s Player of the Night: Brandon Bos gets the nod. 21 points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal. Only turned it over once and went 6-9 from the field and 5-5 from the FT line.

Women’s Basketball – 2/22/13

Western Illinois 63 @ Kansas City 38

What You Need To Know: Wow. Did not see this blowout coming at all… Was 32-18 at the half. Ugly. Win split the season series and moved Western Illinois a half game in front of Kansas City.

Interesting Stat Lines: Western Illinois got a double-double, 20 points and 11 rebounds from Ashley Luke. Kansas City got 17 points from Eilise O’Connor but she needed 22 shots and 7 rebounds to get there going a poor 5-22 (23%) while her teammates were 9/25 (36%). Kansas City turned it over 21 times to 10 for Western Illinois. Western Illinois won by 25 while shooting 36% including 8-23 (35%) from three. Yikes. Kansas city was 14-47 (30%) and 2-11 from three (18%).

Next Up: Western Illinois headed up to South Dakota on Saturday while Kansas City hosted IUPUI.

Women’s Player of the Night: Western Illinois’ Ashley Luke clearly the player of the night. 20 points and 11 rebounds. Two assists, two steals, two blocks. Only two turnovers and went 6-12 from the field and 8-9 from the FT line.

Women’s Basketball – 2/23/13

Fort Wayne 87 @ Oakland 71

What You Need To Know: Fort Wayne led 43-31 at the half and this one wasn’t really in doubt. With Omaha’s loss to North Dakota State on Saturday night Fort Wayne is clearly into the 4th spot. They are no within a half game of South Dakota for 3rd though South Dakota does have one more win already and the tiebreaker. Fort Wayne will have to win both games next weekend and have Omaha beat South Dakota to get into 3rd. Oakland is in last at 3-11 but could get as high as 6th seed if Western Illinois lost both games next weekend (Fort Wayne and Oakland) and Kansas City lost to Omaha.

Interesting Stat Lines: How about 22 points for Rachel Mauk and Amanda Hyde of Fort Wayne. Haley Siebert was also solid with 15 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Oakland was led by 23 points from Elena Popkey who added five rebounds and three assists. Olivia Nash had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Next Up: Fort Wayne heads to Western Illinois as they look to make a last weekend bid for 3rd place. Oakland heads to IUPUI and would need an upset there, which would give them a season sweep of the Jaguars, to get out of 8th place.

IUPUI 47 @ Kansas City 33

What You Need To Know: Kansas City had one ugly weekend. Their shooting was as cold as the city as they trailed 25-16 at the half and never challenged. IUPUI’s win keeps them ahead of South Dakota for 2nd place and one more win will clinch 2nd for them. Kansas City is still in line for the 7th seed and if they play like this again next weekend won’t have any chance of moving up. If these two teams don’t have surprising weekends then we might see this again in Sioux Falls.

Interesting Stat Lines: IUPUI got 13 points and five rebounds from Kerah Nelson. No other player for them scored more than seven points. Eilise O’Connor had 10 points on 3-15 shooting for Kansas City. The two teams combined to go 27-86 (31%) from the field and 7-25 from three (28%). There were 40 turnovers compared to the 27 made shots… IUPUI grabbed 11 offensive rebounds (33% of those available) while Kansas City grabbed just seven (23% of those available).

Next Up: IUPUI goes home to host Oakland. A win there and they have the #2 seed. Kansas City goes to Omaha on Saturday. Without a win the ‘Roos will end up the 7th seed.

Western Illinois 67 @ South Dakota 71

What You Need To Know: A tight game in the first half saw South Dakota take a 31-29 lead to the break. Western Illinois had a good lead in the second half and were up 54-47 with 9:35 left before a 9-0 run from South Dakota put them up one with 6:47 left. They would take the lead for good with 4:20 left, though it was still a one point game with 33 seconds left. South Dakota hit their FTs down the stretch to get the win. The win kept South Dakota in line for the 3rd seed while Western Illinois missed a chance to stay ahead of North Dakota State for the five seed.

Interesting Stat Lines: South Dakota got 24 points and seven rebounds from Tempestt Wilson and Nicole Seekamp had 19 points. Western Illinois got another double-double, 16 points and 10 rebounds from Ashley Luke but she fouled out after playing 33 minutes. This game was played with much better shooting. South Dakota shot 40% while Western Illinois shot 44% in the loss. South Dakota was better at the FT line (15-20 to 12-14), better at not turning it over (10 to 15) and better on the offensive glass.

Next Up: South Dakota travels to Omaha on Thursday. A win there would lock up the #3 seed while a loss would give Fort Wayne a chance to grab it if they can go 2-0 next weekend. Western Illinois goes home to host Fort Wayne on Thursday. Assuming North Dakota State loses to South Dakota State in the regular season finale Western Illinois needs to win either of their games next weekend to grab the #5 seed. If they beat Fort Wayne it’s likely those two would rematch in Sioux Falls.

Omaha 62 @ North Dakota State 63

What You Need To Know: This was a weird one too. It looked over early as North Dakota State led 23-9. It was still 32-20 with 6:56 left in the half before Omaha got hot and a 15-2 run gave Omaha a brief lead with 2:31 left. It was 40-37 North Dakota State at the half. The Bison ran back out to a 52-39 to start the second half before Omaha again stormed back on a 12-0 run to get within one with 6:51 left. The Mavericks just couldn’t seem to get over the hump as every time they got back within a possession North Dakota State seemed to answer. Things got really chaotic in the final minute and a half. Down four Omaha had several possessions but missed a three, turned it over, missed another three on their first three possessions. On their next chance they missed another three and a jumper before Carolyn Blair-Mobley got to the FT line to make it a two point game. Katie Birkel hit two FTs before Blair-Mobley got a layup to make it 63-61 North Dakota State with 13 seconds left. Omaha’s defense had really stepped up their pressure and North Dakota State called a timeout they didn’t have after Omaha trapped them on the inbounds attempt. The technical foul sent Paige Frauendorfer to the FT line for two FTs. Frauendrofer had gone 37-39 at the FT line since January 10th… but she missed the first FT. She made the second to get Omaha within one. The Mavericks inbounded the ball and got a jumper from Frauendorfer in the final seconds. It was no good to let the Bison escape with a one point win.

Interesting Stat Lines: North Dakota State was led by Katie Birkel who had 23 points, six rebounds, and three assists while going 5-8 from three. Danielle DeGagne had a strong double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds while also adding seven assists. Omaha got 20 points from Carolyn Blair-Mobley who also had seven rebounds. Paige Frauendorfer had 15 points and six rebounds. Jamie Nash had seven assists and five steals. Taijhe Kelly had a big game with 11 points, eight rebounds, and six blocks. Omaha shot just 36% from the field and went 5-25 from three. North Dakota State shot 38% from the field and was 9-22 from deep.

Next Up: North Dakota State hosts South Dakota State on Saturday. Perhaps with the Jackrabbits having locked up the #1 seed they’ll be a little less focused on that one. Omaha hosts South Dakota on Thursday. The Mavericks need two wins to finish the conference season at .500.

Women’s Player of the Night: Elena Popkey of Oakland gets it tonight. She was 8-12 from the field and 4-5 from the FT line while scoring 23 points. She added five rebounds, three assists and a steal, only turning it over twice.

Upcoming Games
All Times CT

Men’s Basketball – 2/26
Utah Valley 13-15 (2-5) @ North Dakota State 20-8 (11-4)

2013 Omaha Men’s Tennis – Match #7 Recap – North Dakota

Omaha dropped a match on Friday night to North Dakota, 5-2. The Mavericks got the doubles point thanks to victories by Matt Frost/Connor Larson and Eric McKnight/Erik Anderson but were only able to secure one singles point. Conner Tieszen got that point for the Mavericks with a 6-4, 6-7, 10-6 victory at #1 singles.

Omaha fell to 2-3 while North Dakota got their first win to improve to 1-2 on the year. North Dakota had lost to Western Illinois previous 4-3. Omaha had lost 5-2 so it would seem North Dakota is a bit stronger than the Mavericks.

#1 Singles: Conner Tieszen was once again the selection at #1 singles and he got Omaha’s only singles win, 6-4, 6-7, 10-6.

#2 Singles: Eric McKnight stayed at #2 singles and lost 6-1, 6-1

#3 Singles: Connor Larson was at #3 singles for the 2nd straight match and lost 7-6, 6-0.

#4 Singles: Carlos Ramos Salazar stayed at #4 singles for the 2nd straight match and lost 6-4, 6-4.

#5 Singles: Matt Frost was back at #5 singles for the first time since the Spring opening match with Arkansas. He was beaten 6-4, 6-4.

#6 Singles: Erik Anderson took part in his first singles match, losing his #6 singles match 6-3, 6-4.

#1 Doubles: Conner Tieszen/Carlos Ramos Salazar partnered at #1 doubles for the second straight match. They won 8-3.

#2 Doubles: Eric McKnight/ErikAnderson competed in #2 doubles for the first time, the first doubles match of the year for Anderson. They won 8-6.

#3 Doubles: Matt Frost/Connor Larson paired up for the first time since the Arkansas match, winning #3 doubles 8-3.

Upcoming opponent:
Omaha hosts Oral Roberts next on Saturday March 9th at 2 PM. It’s the final home match for Omaha in this opening stretch. Oral Roberts is 0-6 on the year. They lost 5-2 to Western Illinois in a home match and lost at Arkansas 6-1. So they might be a tad better than Omaha but it should be a competitive match.

2012-13 Omaha Track and Field – Event #9 Recap – Summit League Indoor Championships – Sunday

Sunday Results
Omaha got off to a great start on Sunday at the Summit League Indoor Championships. The day started with the indoor pentathlon and Sami Spenner going for Omaha’s first Summit League Championship. Spenner won the 60m hurdles, high jump, shot put, and long jump before coasting home in 4th in the 800m to easily win the pentathlon. Spenner set personal bests in the high jump (tied) and shot put while Alexander set personal bests in all of the events except the 60m hurdles and overall in the pentathlon.

In the afternoon Elizabeth Thompson set a personal record in the weight throw while failing to make the final. Terri Armstrong did the same thing in the 60m dash semifinals.

Kathie-Lee Laidley tied her personal record in the 60m hurdles semifinals as both she and Sami Spenner qualified for Monday’s final.

In the long jump Omaha went 1-2-4 in the preliminaries as Sami Spenner, Kathie-Lee Laidley, and Denneil Shaw all made the final. Laidley set a personal best with her jump as did Jessica Ripp who was 12th in the preliminaries and didn’t make the final. In the final Omaha went 1-2-4 again as Spenner took first and Laidley improved her personal best again. Shaw’s 5.64m was just 0.04m short of 3rd place, barely denying Omaha a 1-2-3 finish.

In the distance medley relay Omaha took 5th place with a season best time of 12:27.43 by the team of Nicole Behm, Jaqueline Mezick, Lydia Martin, and Ashley Kildow.

Monday will be the busy day for finals with Omaha having competitors in 10 events and a real chance to win several of them. Sami Spenner could be a three event champion by the end of Monday.

Here’s the team standings after the first day. Omaha has a real shot at 2nd place if they have a strong second day.
1 – 47 – North Dakota State
2 – 38 – Omaha
3 – 32 – Kansas City
4 – 28 – South Dakota
5 – 23 – South Dakota State
6 – 14 – Oakland
7 – 11 – Western Illinois
8 – 2 – Fort Wayne

If anyone wants to see the schedule it is here with the heat sheets here.  This is the link to live results.

Sunday
Women’s Indoor Pentathlon – 3888/3520/3441 – SR 4104 – Sami Spenner (2013)
Points: 10
1st – 3888 – Sami Spenner
9th – 2691 – Amanda Alexander – PR

Women’s Indoor Pentathlon – 60m Hurdles – 8.77/9.07/9.10 – SR 8.55
1st – 8.77 – Sami Spenner
9th – 10.72 – Amanda Alexander

Women’s Indoor Pentathlon – High Jump – 1.72m/1.72m/1.63m – SR 1.78m – Kathie-Lee Laidley (2011)
1st – 1.72m – Sami Spenner – Tied PR
8th – 1.48m – Amanda Alexander – PR

Women’s Indoor Pentathlon – Shot Put – 11.54m/10.64m/10.24m – SR 14.99m
1st – 11.54m – Sami Spenner – PR
3rd – 10.24m – Amanda Alexander – PR

Women’s Indoor Pentathlon – Long Jump – 5.75m/5.43m/5.33m – SR 6.23m – Sami Spenner (2013)
1st – 5.75m – Sami Spenner
9th – 4.49m – Amanda Alexander – PR

Women’s Indoor Pentathlon – 800m – 2:19.57/2:20.56/2:25.20 – SR 2:07.14
4th – 2:33.88 – Sami Spenner
8th – 2:43.09 – Amanda Alexander – PR

Women’s Weight Throw – Preliminaries – SR 17.07m
Did not qualify for final:
15th – 14.49m – Elizabeth Thompson – PR

Women’s 800m – Semifinals – SR 2:07.14
Qualified for final:
2nd – 2:20.31 – Katarina Zarudnaya
4th – 2:18.82 – Lauren Psota

Women’s 60m Dash – Semifinals – SR 7.49 – Maja Mihalinec (2010)
Qualified for final:
3rd – 7.60 – Maja Mihalinec

Did not qualify for final:
12th- 7.92 – Terri Armstrong – PR

Women’s 60m Hurdles – Semifinals – SR 8.55
Qualified for final:
4th – 8.72 – Sami Spenner
6th – 8.96 – Kathie-Lee Laidley – Tied PR

Women’s 3000m – 9:51.26/9:51.57/9:55.43 – SR 9:47.90 – Amanda Vorthmann (2013)
Points: 1
8th – 10:06.47 – Amanda Vorthamnn

Women’s Long Jump – Preliminaries – SR 6.23m – Sami Spenner (2013)
Qualified for final:
1st – 6.04m – Sami Spenner
2nd – 5.88m – Kathie-Lee Laidley – PR
4th – 5.54m – Denneil Shaw

Did not qualify for final:
12th – 5.08m – Jessica Ripp – PR

Women’s Long Jump – 6.04m/5.95m/5.68m – SR 6.23m – Sami Spenner (2013)
Points: 23
1st – 6.04m – Sami Spenner
2nd – 5.95m – Kathie-Lee Laidley – PR
4th – 5.64m – Denneil Shaw

Women’s 200m – Semifinals – SR 23.93
Qualified for final:
2nd – 24.69 – Maja Mihalinec

Did not qualify for final:
11th- 25.94 – Terri Armstrong

Women’s Distance Medley – 12:11.82/12:12.27/12:24.64 – SR 11:54.11
Points: 4
5th – 12:27.43 – Omaha ‘A’ – Nicole Behm, Jaqueline Mezick, Lydia Martin, Ashley Kildow – SB

Summary for Sunday:
Winners for Omaha: (2)
Sami Spenner – Pentathlon, Long Jump

Runner-ups for Omaha: (1)
Kathie-Lee Laidley – Long Jump

3rd places for Omaha: (0)

4th places for Omaha: (1)
Denneil Shaw – Long Jump

5th places for Omaha: (1)
Distance Medley Relay – Omaha ‘A’ – Nicole Behm, Jaqueline Mezick, Lydia Martin, Ashley Kildow

Omaha season bests: (1)
Distance Medley Relay – Omaha ‘A’ – Nicole Behm, Jaqueline Mezick, Lydia Martin, Ashley Kildow

Omaha personal bests: (12)
Amanda Alexander – Pentathlon, High Jump, Shot Put, Long Jump, 800m
Sami Spenner – High Jump, Shot Put
Elizabeth Thompson – Weight Throw
Terri Armstrong – 60m Dash
Kathie-Lee Laidley – 60m Hurdles, Long Jump
Jessica Ripp – Long Jump

Omaha school records: (0)

And a quick schedule of the start times of the events for Monday… There should be some live stats available at this link.
Monday
11:30 AM – Triple Jump – Finals – Jessica Ripp, Sami Spenner, Denneil Shaw 
12 PM – Shot Put – Finals – Elizabeth Thompson 
1 PM – Mile – Finals – Amanda Vorthmann, Ashley Kildow, Nicole Behm 
2 PM – High Jump – Finals – Sami Spenner, Kathie-Lee Laidley
2 PM – 60m Dash – Finals – Maja Mihalinec
2:20 PM – 60m Hurdles – Finals – Kathie-Lee Laidley, Sami Spenner 
2:40 PM – 800m – Finals – Katarina Zarudnaya, Lauren Psota
2:50 PM – 200m – Finals – Maja Mihalinec
3 PM – 5000m – Finals – Kristin Rogers, Kristin Carmichael, Kayla Fenske, MiKayla Peck, Karo Garcia, Amanda Vorthmann
3:45 PM – 4x400m Relay – Finals – Terri Armstrong, Lauren Psota, Sami Spenner, Katarina Zarudnaya

2012-13 Omaha Swimming and Diving–Event #17 Recap–Summit League Championships – Friday and Saturday

Friday Results
Saturday Results

Omaha ended the Summit League Championships with some strong performances and a 3rd place finish. The Mavericks just narrowly missed out on a 2nd place finish by 5.5 points, but it’s a good result for the Mavericks in their first year in the Summit League.

The Mavericks ended up with several good relay finishes. The 200 yard freestyle relay team that set the school record finished 2nd. The 200 yard medley relay team also set the school record and finished 3rd. Both the 800 yard freestyle relay team and the 400 yard freestyle relay team also finished 3rd.

Maddie Hutt was the only Maverick swimmer to finish 2nd in an individual event as she did so in the 100 yard breaststroke. Hutt also finished 3rd in the 200 yard breaststroke. Natalie Renshaw was the other Maverick swimmer to finish 3rd, in the 50 yard freestyle. Miranda Knipfer finished 3rd in the 1-meter diving competition.

The Mavericks will return a lot of strength. Hutt is a junior while Knipfer and Renshaw are only freshman. Omaha also got top five finishes by sophomore Lexi Bergeron and junior Erin Wright. Cami Hansberry was the only senior to finish in the top five. All five of the Mavericks top relay teams had at least two swimmers that weren’t seniors.

It’s important to remember that Omaha’s recruiting and swimmers are only starting to build up to D1 level. Omaha will be looking to get better every year as they are able to recruit stronger swimmers than in the D1 days. 15 Mavericks were underclassmen this year including many of the top swimmers.

It’ll be exciting to see how the program grows next year. Notice while looking at a lot of the events from the Summit League Championship that Omaha will have to break school records to reach the top times, so we could see a lot of those fall in the near future.

Here’s the final totals and the original projected standings. The only changes were IUPUI slipping by Omaha for 2nd and South Dakota State overtaking South Dakota for 4th.

Team	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Total	Original Projection
Oakland	80	283.5	333	280.5	977	1st
IUPUI	68	130	159	160	517	3rd
Omaha	64	110.5	211	127	512.5	2nd
South Dakota State	56	87	163	170	476	5th
South Dakota	54	119	112	135	420	4th
Eastern Illinois	58	43	96	82.5	279.5	6th
Western Illinois	48	24	42	34	148	7th

Here’s how Omaha did on Friday…
Friday:
400 Yard Individual Medley – Prelims – School Record = 4:29.85
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
6th – 4:31.77 – Maddie Hutt
8th – 4:35.47 – Lexi Bergeron

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
10th – 4:38.46 – Hannah Alexander
12th – 4:39.83 – Mattea Fosbender

Did not qualify for finals:
xxxx – 4:54.53 – Claire Alexander
xxxx – 4:56.92 – Sarah Blount

400 Yard Individual Medley – 4:20.10/4:21.12/4:21.32 – School Record = 4:29.85
Points: 35 (Projected Points: 48)
Final ‘A’:
5th – 4:31.68 – Lexi Bergeron
8th – 4:34.28 – Maddie Hutt

Final ‘B’:
10th – 4:37.56 – Mattea Fosbender
14th – 4:40.81 – Hannah Alexander

100 Yard Butterfly – Prelims – School Record = 56.37
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
6th – 57.52 – Jenna Foiles

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
10th – 58.40 – Christen Young
13th – 58.69 – Cami Hansberry
15th – 1:00.08 – Tasha Posthuma

Did not qualify for finals:
20th – 1:01.75 – Morgan Cullison
xxxx – 1:01.65 – Chelsea Hartman
xxxx – 1:07.93 – Kari Mettenbrink
xxxx – 1:09.69 – Caitlin Brown

Time Trialed:
1:00.69 – Katie Maier
1:03.17 – Anna Haxby

100 Yard Butterfly – 53.97/54.63/55.80 – School Record = 56.37
Points: 23 (Projected Points: 29)
Final ‘A’:
8th – 57.37 – Jenna Foiles

Final ‘B’:
11th – 57.86 – Cami Hansberry
12th – 57.90 – Christen Young
16th – 1:00.42 – Tasha Posthuma

200 Yard Freestyle – Prelims – School Record = 1:51.03
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
2nd – 1:53.30 – Erin Wright

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
9th – 1:55.73 – Whitney Korgan

Did not qualify for finals:
17th – 1:58.14 – Hannah Johnson

Time Trialed:
2:03.48 – Chelsea Hartman

200 Yard Freestyle – 1:51.27/1:52.35/1:52.75 – School Record = 1:51.03
Points: 21 (Projected Points: 24)
Final ‘A’:
4th – 1:53.27 – Erin Wright

Final ‘B’:
11th – 1:55.92 – Whitney Korgan

100 Yard Breaststroke – Prelims – School Record = 1:04.08 – Maddie Hutt
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
2nd – 1:04.27 – Maddie Hutt
8th – 1:06.89 – Katie Maier

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
9th – 1:06.92 – Hannah Alexander
10th– 1:07.04 – Jordane Linhart
11th– 1:07.06 – Anna Haxby

Time Trialed:
1:09.72 – Claire Alexander

100 Yard Breaststroke – 1:01.68/1:04.17/1:04.59 – School Record = 1:04.08 – Maddie Hutt
Points: 50 (Projected Points: 43)
Final ‘A’:
2nd – 1:04.17 – Maddie Hutt
8th – 1:06.97 – Katie Maier

Final ‘B’:
9th – 1:06.44 – Anna Haxby
10th– 1:06.64 – Jordane Linhart
11th– 1:06.77 – Hannah Alexander

100 Yard Backstroke – Prelims – School Record = 55.60
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
7th – 57.74 – Natalie Renshaw
8th – 58.04 – Cami Hansberry

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
13th – 59.54 – Ashley Kneifl

Did not qualify for finals:
xxxx – 59.99 – Victoria Schab

100 Yard Backstroke – 54.82/55.64/56.26 – School Record = 55.60
Points: 27 (Projected Points: 16)
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
6th – 57.08 – Natalie Renshaw
8th – 58.16 – Cami Hansberry

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
14th – 59.80 – Ashley Kneifl

1-Meter Diving – Prelims – School Record = 318.80
7th – 188.60 – Miranda Knipfer
8th – 157.90 – Maddie Richardson

1-Meter Diving – 301.40/238.10/236.10 – School Record = 318.80
Points: 27 (Projected Points: 24)
3rd – 236.10 – Miranda Knipfer
8th – 182.30 – Maddie Richardson

400 Yard Medley Relay – 3:43.34/3:44.70/3:50.81 – School Record = 3:51.35
Points: 28 (Projected Points: 32)
5th – 3:52.04 – Omaha ‘A’ – Natalie Renshaw, Maddie Hutt, Jenna Foiles, Cami Hansberry
xxx – 3:57.66 – Omaha ‘B’ – Ashley Kneifl, Katie Maier, Christen Young, Whitney Korgan

50 Yard Freestyle – Time Trial – School Record = 23.36
26.33 – Caitlin Brown
27.39 – Kari Mettenbrink

100 Yard Freestyle – Time Trial – School Record = 51.11
53.13 – Erin Wright
57.85 – Sarah Blount

And on Saturday…
Saturday:
1650 Yard Freestyle – 16:51.11/17:03.12/17:04.62 – School Record = 17:20.61
Points: 0 (Projected Points: 0)
17th – 17:55.30 – Lexi Bergeron
18th – 18:11.12 – Mattea Fosbender
23rd – 19:19.03 – Tasha Posthuma
xxxx – 19:16.25 – Sarah Blount

200 Yard Backstroke – Preims – School Record = 1:58.38
Qualified for Final ‘B’:
14th – 2:08.95 – Jenna Foiles

Did not qualify for finals:
17th – 2:11.34 – Ashley Kneifl
xxxx – 2:10.91 – Victoria Schab
xxxx – 2:17.55 – Claire Alexander

200 Yard Backstroke – 1:57.31/1:58.14/1:59.90 – School Record = 1:58.38
Points: 2 (Projected Points: 12)
Final ‘B’:
15th – 2:10.58 – Jenna Foiles

100 Yard Freestyle – Prelims – School Record = 51.11
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
1st – 51.03 – Natalie Renshaw

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
10th – 52.77 – Whitney Korgan
12th – 53.10 – Erin Wright
13th – 53.12 – Hannah Johnson

Did not qualify for finals:
19th – 54.12 – Anna Haxby
xxxx – 56.03 – Chelsea Hartman
xxxx – 59.15 – Caitlin Brown
xxxx – 1:00.67 – Kari Mettenbrink

100 Yard Freestyle – 50.73/51.16/51.23 – School Record = 51.11
Points: 26 (Projected Points: 26)
Final ‘A’:
4th – 51.26 – Natalie Renshaw

Final ‘B’:
11th – 53.00 – Erin Wright
13th – 53.21 – Whitney Korgan
16th – 53.44 – Hannah Johnson

200 Yard Breaststroke – Prelims – School Record = 2:17.91 – Maddie Hutt
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
4th – 2:21.00 – Maddie Hutt
7th – 2:23.31 – Hannah Alexander

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
9th – 2:25.23 – Katie Maier
10th– 2:25.69 – Jordane Linhart

200 Yard Breaststroke – 2:17.91/2:19.46/2:20.42 – School Record = 2:17.91 – Maddie Hutt
Points: 43 (Projected Points: 41)
Final ‘A’:
3rd – 2:20.42 – Maddie Hutt
8th – 2:23.14 – Hannah Alexander

Final ‘B’:
9th – 2:24.15 – Jordane Linhart
10th– 2:26.22 – Katie Maier

200 Yard Butterfly – Prelims – School Record = 2:06.86
Qualified for Final ‘A’:
7th – 2:08.65 – Jenna Foiles

Qualified for Final ‘B’:
10th – 2:09.75 – Christen Young
16th – 2:17.46 – Tasha Posthuma

Did not qualify for finals:
18th – 2:18.62 – Morgan Cullison
20th – 2:22.50 – Katie Maier
23rd – 2:33.57 – Jordane Linhart

200 Yard Butterfly – 2:00.87/2:02.33/2:05.13 – School Record = 2:06.86
Points: 24 (Projected Points: 28)
Final ‘A’:
6th – 2:08.83 – Jenna Foiles

Final ‘B’:
9th – 2:07.54 – Christen Young
15th– 2:16.07 – Tasha Posthuma

400 Yard Freestyle Relay – 3:24.81/3:27.55/3:29.51 – School Record = 3:25.52
Points: 32 (Projected Points: 34)
3rd – 3:29.51 – Omaha ‘A’ – Whitney Korgan, Erin Wright, Natalie Renshaw, Cami Hansberry
xxx – 3:35.91 – Omaha ‘B’ – Ashley Kneifl, Hannah Johnson, Anna Haxby, Mattea Fosbender

100 Yard Butterfly – Time Trialed – School Record = 56.37
1:01.51 – Morgan Cullison

Overall Results:
Omaha winners: (0)

Omaha runner-ups: (2)
200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Whitney Korgan, Anna Haxby, Natalie Renshaw, Cami Hansberry
Maddie Hutt – 100 Yard Breaststroke

Omaha 3rd places: (6)
200 Yard Medley Relay – Cami Hansberry, Maddie Hutt, Jenna Foiles, Anna Haxby
800 Yard Freestyle Relay – Whitney Korgan, Erin Wright, Natalie Renshaw, Mattea Fosbender
Natalie Renshaw – 50 Yard Freestyle
Miranda Knipfer – 1-Meter Diving
Maddie Hutt – 200 Yard Breaststroke
400 Yard Freestyle Relay – Whitney Korgan, Erin Wright, Natalie Renshaw, Cami Hansberry

Omaha 4th places: (3)
Miranda Knipfer – 3-Meter Diving
Erin Wright – 200 Yard Freestyle
Natalie Renshaw – 100 Yard Freestyle

Omaha 5th places: (3)
Cami Hansberry – 50 Yard Freestyle
Lexi Bergeron – 400 Yard Individual Medley
400 Yard Medley Relay – Natalie Renshaw, Maddie Hutt, Jenna Foiles, Cami Hansberry

Omaha School Records: (2)
200 Yard Medley Relay – Cami Hansberry, Maddie Hutt, Jenna Foiles, Anna Haxby – 1:44.23
200 Yard Freestyle Relay – Whitney Korgan, Anna Haxby, Natalie Renshaw, Cami Hansberry – 1:33.96

2012-13 Omaha Swimming and Diving–Event #17 Recap–Summit League Championships – Thursday

Thursday Results

On the second night of the Summit League Championships Omaha set another school record and picked up a 2nd place relay finish, a 3rd and 5th place finish in the 50 yard freestyle, and a 4th place finish in the 3m diving event.

Omaha’s new school record came in the 200 yard freestyle relay as the team of Whitney Korgan, Anna Haxby, Natalie Renshaw, Cami Hansberry swam a 1:33.96, breaking the school record of 1:35.24. That time was also faster than any in Summit League Championship history… except for the team finishing 1.12 seconds in front of them from Oakland. The old record was 1:34.60.

Omaha picked up a 3rd place finish from Natalie Renshaw in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 23.57 and a 5th place finish from Cami Hansberry in 23.74. Omaha’s other top five finish came from Miranda Knipfer who finished 4th with a score of 227.80 in the 3m diving finals.

On Friday Omaha will have two divers at 1 meter, two relay teams in the 400 yard medley, and 23 individual swimmers competing in five events. Swimming preliminaries will begin at 10 AM CT, diving preliminaries begin at 12 PM CT, and all of the finals begin at 5:30 PM CT.

Here’s the updated projections now that we know actual totals from Wednesday. No movement amongst the projected order of finish to this point.

Team	Wednesday	Thursday	Through 2 Days	Friday	Saturday	Total
Oakland	80	283.5	363.5	384	357	1104.5
Omaha	64	110.5	174.5	216	141	531.5
IUPUI	68	130	198	141	154	493
South Dakota	54	119	173	148	120	441
South Dakota State	56	87	143	128	122	393
Eastern Illinois	58	43	101	60	65	226
Western Illinois	48	24	72	39	30	141

Here’s how Omaha did on Thursday…
Thursday:
500 Yard Freestyle – Preliminaries – School Record = 5:00.77
Qualified for ‘B’ Final:
16th – 5:11.63 – Mattea Fosbender

Did not qualify for finals:
19th – 5:12.80 – Lexi Bergeron
23rd – 5:18.06 – Christen Young
xxxx – 5:35.57 – Sarah Blount

500 Yard Freestyle – 4:53.57/4:56.04/5:00.67 – School Record = 5:00.77
Points: 2 (Projected Points – 9)
’B’ Final:
15th– 5:10.51 – Mattea Fosbender

200 Yard Individual Medley – Preliminaries – School Record = 2:05.87
Qualified for ‘B’ Final:
11th – 2:08.62 – Erin Wright
13th – 2:09.38 – Ashley Kneifl

Did not qualify for finals:
27th – 2:16.60 – Morgan Cullison
xxxx – 2:17.27 – Claire Alexander

Time Trialed:
2:10.79 – Hannah Alexander
2:17.74 – Jordane Linhart

200 Yard Individual Medley – 2:00.97/2:01.20/2:04.50 – School Record = 2:05.87
Points: 8 (Projected Points: 18)
’B’ Final:
11th – 2:08.47 – Erin Wright
13th – 2:12.16 – Ashley Kneifl

50 Yard Freestyle – Preliminaries – School Record = 23.36
Qualified for ‘A’ Final:
1st – 23.70 – Cami Hansberry
4th – 23.79 – Natalie Renshaw

Qualified for ‘B’ Final:
9th – 23.99 – Whitney Korgan
11th– 24.09 – Anna Haxby

Did not qualify for finals:
22nd – 24.73 – Hannah Johnson
xxxx – 24.99 – Chelsea Hartman
xxxx – 25.27 – Victoria Schab
xxxx – 26.40 – Caitlin Brown
xxxx – 27.27 – Kari Mettenbrink

50 Yard Freestyle – 23.45/23.48/23.57 – School Record = 23.36
Points: 39.5 (Projected Points: 36)
‘A’ Final:
3rd – 23.57 – Natalie Renshaw
5th – 23.74 – Cami Hansberry

‘B’ Final:
11th – 24.12 – Whitney Korgan
13th – 24.13 – Anna Haxby

3-Meter Diving – Preliminaries – School Record = 341.15
4th – 213.35 – Miranda Knipfer
7th – 166.95 – Maddie Richardson

3-Meter Diving – 302.20/234.60/229.85 – School Record = 341.15
Points: 27 (Projected Points: 27)
4th – 227.80 – Miranda Knipfer
7th – 182.30 – Maddie Richardson

200 Yard Freestyle Relay – 1:32.84/1:33.96/1:35.39 – School Record = 1:35.24
Points: 34 (Projected Points: 34)
2nd – 1:33.96 – Omaha ‘A’ – Whitney Korgan, Anna Haxby, Natalie Renshaw, Cami Hansberry – NEW SCHOOL RECORD
7th – 1:38.22 – Omaha ‘B’ – Hannah Johnson, Erin Wright, Ashley Kneifl, Christen Young

100 Yard Butterfly – Time Trial – School Record = 56.37
59.42 – Whitney Korgan
1:03.75 – Hannah Johnson

100 Yard Backstroke – Time Trial – School Record = 55.60
1:03.07 – Tasha Posthuma
1:03.86 – Claire Alexander

And here’s who’s listed as competing on Friday…
Friday:
400 Yard Individual Medley – 4:22.89/4:27.46/4:27.89 – School Record = 4:29.85
Projected Points: 48
6th – 4:37.27 – Lexi Bergeron
7th – 4:37.75 – Maddie Hutt
8th – 4:38.13 – Erin Wright
10th– 4:39.33 – Hannah Alexander
12th– 4:40.21 – Christen Young
18th– 4:44.95 – Mattea Fosbender
28th- 5:02.11 – Morgan Cullison
29th- 5:05.54 – Claire Alexander
32nd- 5:12.90 – Sarah Blount

100 Yard Butterfly – 55.00/55.01/56.01 – School Record = 56.37
Projected Points: 29
6th – 58.29 – Jenna Foiles
9th – 59.12 – Cami Hansberry
11th- 59.30 – Christen Young
16th- 1:00.28 – Ashley Kneifl
18th– 1:00.51 – Tasha Posthuma
22nd– 1:00.98 – Morgan Cullison
27th- 1:02.39 – Whitney Korgan
28th– 1:03.00 – Chelsea Hartman
29th– 1:03.46 – Katie Maier
35th- 1:07.75 – Kari Mettenbrink
38th- 1:14.00 – Caitlin Brown

200 Yard Freestyle – 1:52.04/1:53.99/1:54.43 – School Record = 1:51.03
Projected Points: 24
7th – 1:55.88 – Erin Wright
9th – 1:56.76 – Whitney Korgan
14th– 1:57.38 – Hannah Johnson
19th– 1:58.63 – Mattea Fosbender
21st- 1:58.52 – Jenna Foiles
26th- 2:00.51 – Ashley Kneifl
43rd- 2:12.65 – Caitlin Brown

100 Yard Breaststroke – 1:02.64/1:04.08/1:05.27 – School Record = 1:04.08 – Maddie Hutt
Projected Points: 43
2nd – 1:04.08 – Maddie Hutt
6th – 1:06.64 – Hannah Alexander
12th– 1:08.23 – Katie Maier
13th– 1:08.43 – Jordane Linhart
14th– 1:08.57 – Anna Haxby
16th- 1:08.96 – Erin Wright

100 Yard Backstroke – 54.82/55.64/56.26 – School Record = 55.60
Projected Points: 16
6th – 57.78 – Natalie Renshaw
14th– 1:00.86 – Cami Hansberry
20th– 1:01.60 – Ashley Kneifl
21st– 1:01.92 – Victoria Schab
23rd– 1:02.39 – Jenna Foiles

1-Meter Diving – 310.70/262.49/250.20 – School Record = 318.80/437.84
Projected Points: 24
6th – 231.59 – Miranda Knipfer
8th – 195.68 – Maddie Richardson

400 Yard Medley Relay – 3:45.93/3:52.52/3:53.17 – School Record = 3:51.35
Projected Points: 32
3rd – 3:53.17 – Omaha ‘A’
8th – 4:05.90 – Omaha ‘B’

Following the Summit – 2/21/13

Recapping the previous day’s games…

Women’s Basketball

Omaha 56 @ South Dakota State 69

What You Need To Know: The win gave South Dakota State a share of the conference title which became the outright conference title after IUPUI lost to South Dakota. It’s their 2nd straight conference title and their 4th in six years. This game was good and close for the first 30 minutes but an 11-0 South Dakota State run allowed them to pull away for the 13 point win.

Interesting Stat Lines: South Dakota State got a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds from Hannah Stop to lead the way. Omaha got 24 points from Paige Frauendorfer who went 10-22 from the field. South Dakota State outshot Omaha 46% to 34% and went 8-16 from three while Omaha was jut 4-17.

Next Up: South Dakota State has a bit of a rest until facing North Dakota State in Fargo in the final regular season game. With the #1 seed locked up in the Summit League tournament the motivation can be getting as good a seed as possible in March if they do make the NCAA Tournament. Omaha heads to North Dakota State this Saturday. Omaha could still grab a winning record in the Summit League if they win out.

IUPUI 39 @ South Dakota 56 – Game of the Week

What You Need To Know: This game was tied 20-20 at the half and IUPUI actually led 27-26 with 17:27 left. Then South Dakota went on a 15-0 run and this was over. South Dakota gets the season sweep but since they are still two games behind IUPUI in the loss department they’ll need a good amount of help to catch them. It is a valuable win for South Dakota though as they fight for the right to play IUPUI a 3rd time in Sioux Falls should they both advance from the first round. That matchup looks a thousand times better for them than playing South Dakota State. Honestly I’d say IUPUI’s chances of winning the Summit League tournament are cut in half if they have to play South Dakota a 3rd time instead of playing say Fort Wayne. They would actually be wise in my opinion to “blow” the game against Fort Wayne (7-6) next week to let Fort Wayne get an extra win as they look to catch South Dakota. The Mastodons would lose the tiebreaker to South Dakota if they end up tied.

Interesting Stat Lines: South Dakota got a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds from Polly Harrington. Tempestt Wilson led the team with 17 points. IUPUI had only one player in double figures, Dee-Dee Bellamy, averaging four points per game, with 10. Kerah Nelson was held scoreless. South Dakota held the Jaguars to just 20% shooting, 8-43 (19%) on two pointers! That dropped to 5-34 (15%) and 3-23 (13%) on twos in the second half. IUPUI did not make a FG between the 17:27 mark and the 6:20 mark in the second half. IUPUI was +13 on the offensive boards (they had 19) in the loss. It wasn’t just because of them missing more shots either, they grabbed 35% of those available to South Dakota’s 21%.

Next Up: South Dakota will host Western Illinois on Saturday while IUPUI travels to Kansas City on Saturday. Since those two teams will be playing tomorrow these two could have a slight advantage with less tired legs.

Women’s Player of the Night: Why not start a new feature with a week left in the season? Anyways Hannah Strop of South Dakota State is the player of the night. She had 13 points and 13 rebounds while shooting 4-5 including 3-4 from three. She also had one assist in her 29 minutes in the 69-56 win over Omaha.

Upcoming Games
All Times CT

Men’s Basketball – 2/22
North Dakota State 20-7 (11-4) @ Akron 21-4 (12-0) – 6 PM – ESPN2

Women’s Basketball – 2/22
Western Illinois 11-14 (4-8) @ Kansas City 9-17 (5-8) – 1 PM

2012-13 Omaha Women’s Basketball – Game #25 Recap – South Dakota State

Much like the first meeting between these two schools Thursday night showed that Omaha is a gritty hard working group that can play some good basketball, and that South Dakota State is just flat out better and the best team in this conference. Despite all the hard work by the Mavericks and some good play at times it wasn’t enough in the end as South Dakota State used an 11-0 run in the second half to pull away for a 69-56 win.

Omaha played well for most of the first 30 minutes. In the first half despite losing Taijhe Kelly to foul trouble Omaha was able to stay within five. Stacia Gebers came off the bench to score six points in seven minutes while Casse Vaughn added three points and three rebounds in nine minutes. The Mavericks were down nine but cut that lead late in the half to stay within striking range.

In the second half Omaha fell behind by seven but Paige Frauendorfer led the Mavericks on several rallies. They got within three at 52-49 with 10:25 left before South Dakota State started an 11-0 run over 5:26 that ended most of Omaha’s hopes. The Mavericks seemed to be getting a little tired and starting taking more and more outside jumpers.

There’s no shame in losing at South Dakota State and Omaha showed that they were probably just one piece away from having a team that could compete in a game like this. In the end South Dakota State’s overwhelming depth was too much.

Paige Frauendorfer ended up with 24 points for Omaha, two away from a career high. I swear she hits some magic point around 20 points that doesn’t allow her to keep her scoring pace up. She had 10 in the first half, 10 in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, but then just four after that. Obviously some of that was due to South Dakota State locking down on her, but she’s been pretty close in several games this year and she hasn’t been able to break through. Frauendorfer took 22 shots for the Mavericks, the most by a Maverick since Jessica Zaruba took 23 against Lincoln University on 12/18/10. Raise your hand if you expected that to be the name I pulled out… because I sure didn’t.

Ericka House was 4-7 from three while the rest of the team was just 0-17. She had 14 points, her first time in double figures in a loss. Between Frauendorfer, House, and Gebers they shot 18-37 (49%). Between the rest of the team it was 3-24 (13%). Yikes. Just can’t win games like this when you don’t have multiple offensive options. Jamie Nash and Carolyn Blair-Mobley both went 1-8 while Taijhe Kelly was 0-5.

Kelly did do some good things in the 2nd half. She had six rebounds and five blocks in her 18 second half minutes. She’s now on this incredible streak of five or more blocks in four straight games. Remember that before that stretch there had been a TOTAL of NINE games where a player had five or more blocks in Maverick history. She’s increased the total by 44% in just a few weeks. Wow. She has 23 of her 60 blocks in the last four games.

Jamie Nash grabbed five assists and four steals in the losing effort, breaking her own single season school assist record in the process. She also had five turnovers for Omaha as part of her up and down game, very emblematic of her season.

Omaha grabbed 13 offensive rebounds but that was out of 41 opportunities (32%) while South Dakota State grabbed 11 out of 29 opportunities (38%). The Jackrabbits lit it up from deep again. They were 8-16 with Hannah Strop being the one to surprise the Mavericks this time. The 34% three point shooter went 3-4 from deep. They also went 11-11 from the FT line despite being a 69% shooting team. Sometimes the shots don’t fall for you but they fall for your opponent…

Omaha takes on North Dakota State next on Saturday. The Mavericks would love to get a win setting them up for a homestand to end the year where they could lock down a winning conference season. Omaha won the meeting in Omaha 61-52 and the Bison are just 2-4 since then, one of those victories being an upset at South Dakota. They lost at IUPUI last Saturday 57-40.

It was Over When: Omaha had a chance to cut it to nine on a fast break with 3:53 but turned it over. South Dakota State drew a foul after running 20 seconds on their next possession and then got an offensive rebound off a Taijhe Kelly block that lead to a three pointer to make it 66-52 with 3:11 left. Willing to call it over then.

Player of the Game: Paige Frauendorfer wins it tonight again. She had 24 points and seven rebounds for Omaha. She added a steal and assists, hit all four of her FTs, and went 10-22 from the field. She tried stretching her range some but went 0-4 from three. Her 10 points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half kept Omaha in this one.

Season Total:
Paige Frauendorfer (9)
Carolyn Blair-Mobley (6)
Jamie Nash (4)
Taijhe Kelly (4)
Cathleen Cox (1)
Casse Vaughn (1)

Efficiency Ratings:
Paige Frauendorfer – 20
Ericka House – 11
Taijhe Kelly – 4
Stacia Gebers – 4
Jamie Nash – 3
Carolyn Blair-Mobley – 2
Casse Vaughn – 1
Carly Cator – 0
Myhiah Dotzler – 0

Season Average:
Paige Frauendorfer – 14.5
Carolyn Blair-Mobley – 12.4
Jamie Nash – 9.6
Taijhe Kelly – 7.5
Ericka House – 6.0
Casse Vaughn – 5.2
Carly Cator – 3.2
Cathleen Cox – 2.4
Stacia Gebers – 2.4
Kate Bayes – 1.6
Myhiah Dotzler – 0.8
Allison Jackson – 0.7

Team Ratings: Game was well paced. Omaha put up similar numbers to the first matchup, just a bit worse on both ends. Omaha didn’t shoot well but were good at not turning it over. Mavericks didn’t get on the offensive glass as hard as they have at times but that’s not horrible considering their opponent is a great rebounding team. The defensive rebounding number is disappointing though. Omaha didn’t do very good on assists tonight only registering 8 on 21 baskets. Omaha also didn’t get to the FT line too much going 10-12.

Possessions: 69
Offensive Points per Possession : 0.82
Defensive Points per Possession : 1.03
eFG%: 37.7%
Turnover Rate: 17.5%
Offensive Rebounding: 27.0%
Defensive Rebounding: 64.3%
A/B%: 38.1%
Floor%: 42.5%
FT Prod: 16.4

Response to 3 things to watch:
1) Depth – Think this definitely came in to play down the stretch. Omaha used Ericka House extensively tonight with 34 minutes and Taijhe Kelly played 18 minutes in the 2nd half after sitting most of the first half with foul trouble. On the other hand South Dakota State had their usual deep rotation with six players between 21 and 31. Omaha’s more used to playing those minutes than most teams but it can still be hard to deal with.

2.) Turnovers – Omaha only had 12 turnovers and were able to grab eight steals as South Dakota State had 18 turnovers. This advantage helped Omaha stay in the game despite being out shot and out rebounded.

3.) Complete Game – Omaha nearly played that complete game tonight. South Dakota State stretched the lead to nine late in the first half but Omaha had it back to five by halftime and to two in the second half. Unfortunately after Omaha got it to 52-49 with 10:24 left South Dakota State went on the 11-0 run that basically ended things with 4:59 left. That five and a half minute stretch was the part that cost them in the end.

Prediction Response: I had it at 64-56, obviously that was a little closer than it was. For a while I was looking good though .

Upcoming Opponent: North Dakota State is up next. That’s a winnable game for Omaha and could propel them to a strong finish for the season. They need to win out to have a winning conference season.

Following the Summit – 2/20/13

Recapping the previous day’s games…

Men’s Basketball

Oakland 71 @ Fort Wayne 77

What You Need To Know: It was a damaging loss for the Golden Grizzlies who will be the 4th seed unless Omaha beats North Dakota State or Western Illinois drops both of their remaining home games. Fort Wayne is going to be their opponent as the 5th seed unless Kansas City beats Western Illinois and IUPUI.

Interesting Stat Lines: Fort Wayne got 17 from Frank Gaines but 13 of those were during their first 25 points. He did go 5-16 from the field but grabbed five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Thankfully others stepped up like Luis Jacobo with 15 and Joe Reed with 14. Oakland got 23 from Travis Bader but he was just 2-10 from three. The two teams were a combined 13-43 from deep. Oakland was 20-33 on two point shots and 16-29 on FTs… WHAT?!? Oakland had just eight assists on 25 made baskets.

Next Up: Oakland will host Morehead State on Saturday and Fort Wayne will host Bowling Green. Both of those matchups are in the BracketBusters event.

South Dakota State 78 @ Cal State Bakersfield 79

What You Need To Know: This was a CRAZY game. I got to listen to a lot of the 1st and 2nd OT. Nate Wolters hit a floater to keep SDSU alive by tying it with five seconds left in the 1st OT. In the 2nd OT Wolters went to the FT line with 40 seconds left in a tie game and missed two FTs. Later Chad White hit one of two FTs with the game still tied with 11 seconds left. Cal State Bakersfield came back and missed a three in the closing seconds but a foul called on Chad White with just 0.5 seconds left as Nate Wolters rebounded the miss gave the Roadrunners one last chance. They hit both FTs and got the 79-78 win. Shaky officiating but you can’t ignore 1-4 from the FT line by two shooters over 70% on the year in a tie game in the closing minute. Have to hit those FTs. The loss is damaging to South Dakota State’s resume. They would never get an at-large bit to the NCAA tournament, but they are playing for potential seeding if they do get in at this point.

Interesting Stat Lines: Wolters lead South Dakota State with 32 points 10 rebounds, and nine assists. Jordan Dykstra added a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Cal State Bakersfield was led by 22 by from Stephon Carter and 19 points and 10 rebounds by Brandon Barnes. South Dakota State out shot Cal State Bakersfield 50% to 36%, were better from deep 38% to 27%, and out rebounded them 44-38. The rebounding was a mirage though as Cal State Bakersfield grabbed a higher percentage of offensive rebounds available. Cal State Bakersfield got to the free throw line a ton and went 25-33 compared to 12-21 for South Dakota State. The Roadrunners were also less sloppy as they had 12 turnovers to 18 for South Dakota State.

Next Up: South Dakota State flies to Kentucky where they will face Murray State on Saturday evening in the BracketBusters. That game will be on ESPN2!

Upcoming Games
All Times CT

Women’s Basketball – 2/21
Western Illinois 11-14 (4-8) @ Kansas City 9-17 (5-8) – 5 PM
Omaha 16-8 (6-6) @ South Dakota State 20-7 (12-2) – 7 PM
IUPUI 16-9 (9-3) @ South Dakota 12-14 (7-6) – 7 PM – Game of the Week

2012-13 Omaha Swimming and Diving–Event #17 Recap–Summit League Championships – Wednesday

Wednesday Results

The first night of the Summit League Championships is in the books and Omaha has come up with two 3rd place finishes and one shiny new school record.

Omaha got the championship off to a solid start by setting a new school record in the 200 yard medley relay. The team of Cami Hansberry, Maddie Hutt, Jenna Foiles, Anna Haxby broke the old record of 1:45.61 by over a full second with a time of 1:44.23.

Later in the 800 yard medley relay Omaha got 3rd again as the team of Whitney Korgan, Erin Wright, Natalie Renshaw, Mattea Fosbender swam a 7:37.06.

On Thursday Omaha will have two divers at 3 meters, two relay teams in the 200 yard freestyle, and twenty individual swimmers competing in three events. Swimming preliminaries will begin at 10 AM CT, diving preliminaries begin at 12 PM CT, and all of the finals begin at 5 PM CT.

Here’s the updated projections now that we know actual totals from Wednesday. No movement amongst the projected order of finish to this point.

Team	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Total
Oakland	80	313	384	357	1134
Omaha	64	124	216	141	545
IUPUI	68	89	141	154	452
South Dakota	54	123	148	120	445
South Dakota State	56	82	128	122	388
Eastern Illinois	58	36	60	65	219
Western Illinois	48	30	39	30	147

Here’s how Omaha did on Wednesday…
Wednesday:
200 Yard Medley Relay – 1:41.56/1:43.20/1:44.23 – School Record = 1:45.61
Projected Points: 32
3rd – 1:44.23 – Omaha ‘A’ – Cami Hansberry, Maddie Hutt, Jenna Foiles, Anna Haxby – NEW SCHOOL RECORD
11th– 1:52.09 – Omaha ‘B’ – Tasha Posthuma, Jordane Linhart, Katie Maier, Morgan Cullison

800 Yard Freestyle Relay – 7:24.35/7:32.98/7:37.06 – School Record = 7:31.21
Points: 32
3rd – 7:37.06 – Omaha ‘A’ – Whitney Korgan, Erin Wright, Natalie Renshaw, Mattea Fosbender
6th – 7:43.26 – Omaha ‘B’ – Ashley Kneifl, Hannah Johnson, Christen Young, Lexi Bergeron

And here’s who’s listed as competing on Thursday…

BTW – In individual events the top eight from the preliminaries will race for 1st through 8th in the evening while 9th through 16th will race for 9th through 16th. You can’t move up from the second group to the first so those preliminaries are very important and can’t just be breezed through for the top swimmers. Along with that 9th is worth two points less than 8th and 10th is a full four points less than 8th. Since 9th is often faster than 8th during the finals you can see just how much making the cut for the main final means.

Thursday:
500 Yard Freestyle – 4:56.60/5:05.06/5:05.29 – School Record = 5:00.77
Projected Points: 9
9th – 5:13.15 – Lexi Bergeron
17th– 5:18.43 – Christen Young
19th– 5:19.05 – Mattea Fosbender
31st- 5:36.93 – Sarah Blount

200 Yard Individual Medley – 2:03.24/2:06.57/2:07.49 – School Record = 2:05.87
Projected Points: 18
9th – 2:10.66 – Maddie Hutt
12th- 2:11.14 – Lexi Bergeron
13th– 2:12.48 – Erin Wright
19th– 2:14.99 – Hannah Alexander
21st– 2:15.02 – Ashley Kneifl
34th– 2:20.00 – Claire Alexander
35th- 2:20.28 – Morgan Cullison
44th- 2:25.86 – Jordane Linahrt

50 Yard Freestyle – 23.59/23.60/23.87 – School Record = 23.36
Projected Points: 36
4th – 23.87 – Natalie Renshaw
9th – 23.96 – Cami Hansberry
10th– 23.99 – Whitney Korgan
13th– 24.46 – Anna Haxby
16th– 24.67 – Hannah Johnson
25th– 25.04 – Chelsea Hartman
38th- 25.69 – Victoria Schab
45th- 26.85 – Caitlin Brown
48th- 27.81 – Kari Mettenbrink

3-Meter Diving – 324.60/264.15/256.95 – School Record = 341.15/469.35
Projected Points: 27
4th – 242.33 – Miranda Knipfer
7th – 191.32 – Maddie Richardson

200 Yard Freestyle Relay – 1:34.91/1:35.67/1:37.54 – School Record = 1:35.24
Projected Points: 34
2nd – 1:35.67 – Omaha ‘A’
8th – 1:40.90 – Omaha ‘B’