Omaha Announces 2016-17 Women's Basketball Schedule
Jul 21, 2016 | Women's Basketball
OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha women's basketball head coach Brittany Lange announced the Mavericks' 2016-17 schedule on Thursday. The Mavericks will play a total of 29 games, including 13 contests at Baxter Arena.
"Our goal is to raise the bar and test ourselves before conference play," said Lange. "We have put together a non-conference schedule that is the most competitive in program history, and at the top of our conference. This season we have eight road games, including Colorado State in the Preseason WNIT who went 31-2 last year, Nebraska, Creighton and Central Florida. In December, we also host a talented Kansas State team that advanced to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. I'm excited that our players wanted this difficult schedule to get better."
Lange enters her fourth season at the helm of the Omaha program. UNO returns three starters from the 2015-16 squad, including the Summit League's leading scorer and 1st Team All-Conference selection senior forward Mikaela Shaw (18.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists), senior guard Abi Lujan, and junior guard Remy Davenport. The Mavericks will look for added contributions and experience from three Division 1 transfers, including Michaela Dapprich who was a three year starter on three NCAA tournament teams at Wichita State.
The Mavericks open the season with an exhibition game against Graceland on Nov. 6 at Baxter Arena and begin the regular season the following week at Colorado State on Nov. 11 in the Preseason WNIT. The second round locations and times will be announced following the opening game.
UNO then travels to Lincoln to face Nebraska on Nov. 22.
Omaha hosts a four-game homestand with games against Indiana State (Nov. 25), Wofford (Nov. 27), Lincoln University (Dec. 1) and finally facing Big 12 power Kansas State (Dec. 4).
From there, the Mavericks will return to the road for four-straight games starting with Creighton and UMKC on Dec. 7 and Dec. 10, respectively. UNO will visit the Sunshine State for games against Florida A&M (Dec. 18) and Central Florida (Dec. 20) prior to the holiday break.
"The Summit League has improved from top to bottom," said Lange. "We have directed our recruiting and training to match the physical, versatile play we see in our league. I am looking forward to competing with the more experienced and tougher teams like South Dakota and South Dakota State. IUPUI and Oral Roberts will have key returners that will make them tough as well."
Omaha opens Summit League play against Oral Roberts on Dec. 28 at Baxter Arena. The Mavericks battle York on New Year's Day before wrapping up the homestand against league foe IUPUI on Jan. 5.
The Mavericks hit the road for the first time in conference play on Jan. 7 with a trip to 2016 NCAA Tournament participant South Dakota State.
Omaha returns home to host Western Illinois on Jan. 11. They welcome defending regular season champions and 2016 National Invitational Tournament winners South Dakota on Jan. 14.
UNO will play three-straight games on the road against North Dakota State (Jan. 18), Denver (Jan. 21) and Fort Wayne (Jan. 25) before finishing the month hosting South Dakota State on Jan. 28.
The Mavericks are on the road for three consecutive road contests against IUPUI (Feb. 2), Western Illinois (Feb. 4) and Oral Roberts (Feb. 11).
UNO wraps up the regular season with three of its final four games at home. The Mavericks host Fort Wayne (Feb. 15) before a quick trip to South Dakota (Feb. 18). Omaha returns home to face North Dakota State (Feb. 22) and ends the regular season against Denver (Feb. 25).
The Summit League Tournament is set for March 4-7 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Game times, broadcast information and season ticket information for all Maverick games will be available at a later date.
