• Box Score: UNO 69, Sioux Falls 68

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Sioux Falls coach Travis Traphagen has seen enough field-goal kickers miss big attempts after a timeout, so he figured it was worth a shot.

With his team clinging to only its second lead of the game at 68-67 with 3.1 seconds left, he called timeout before UNO’s Jamie Nash went to the line for the first of two free throws.

After Nash swished the first for a tie, he tried it again. Afterward, another swish.

And so UNO, which led comfortably most of the game before squandering an 18-point second-half lead through of a barrage of Cougars 3-pointers, had recovered for a 69-68 victory Thursday night before 327 fans at Sapp Fieldhouse.

“When Jamie Nash is at the foul line — I’d take that kid on my team any day, there’s no question,” Traphagen said. “I tried to take a couple of timeouts to try to ice her like you would (a kicker) in a football game. But I would have rather had anyone else than her at the line.”

Said Nash: “It wasn’t really a game-winning shot or anything. It just kind of covered up for what we did the last five minutes.”

Nash, a 5-foot-4 junior who shoots 70.7 percent from the line, took it that close to the buzzer after hesitating on her own end of the floor after teammate Heather Pohl grabbed a rebound and got her the ball.

“I thought we had more time, to be honest,” Nash said. “I saw eight seconds up there and I thought I had about 12.”

She went into high gear, though, and drove the length of the floor, drawing contact from Sioux Falls’ Jamey Hofer in the lane.

“She kind of froze for a couple of seconds, but that’s OK,” UNO coach Chance Lindley said. “Because what she did is what we’d talked about.”

Sioux Falls was effective physically, but contact with Nash at the end led to the final points.

“I give a ton of credit to my player for trying to step in and take a charge in that situation,” Traphagen said. “Every once in a while on the road, maybe you get a little unlucky, but a basketball game shouldn’t come down to one possession. We had numerous chances to make sure it didn’t come down to that.”

The Cougars (15-3), transitioning from NAIA Division II to NCAA Division II, suffered their second loss to UNO (13-10), which is transitioning from NCAA Division II to Division I.

Sioux Falls causes teams problems with its physical inside game and long-range shooting — it averages 8.8 3s per game and hit nine Thursday.

“They took advantage of what maybe was or wasn’t called, and that’s the sign of a good coach and a good team,” Lindley said. “That’s a good call on their part. We did the best we could with the bodies we have and/or what we couldn’t match up with in certain positions.”

Sioux Falls fell behind 48-30 while struggling from long distance. They were 3 for 22 from 3-point range and still trailed 55-42 before making three straight 3s in just more than a minute to suddenly get within 55-51. Their fourth straight 3 got them within 59-56 with 6:21 left.

“Omaha played fast and hit some big shots,” Traphagen said. “And we just finally told the kids to just play. After I quit coaching them a little bit we made shots, and then basketball is a funny game. All of a sudden we made one or two and then it looks like every one is going in.”

UNO freshman Cathleen Cox, who broke out of a shooting slump with 14 first-half points and finished with 20, scored six straight Mav points to put the lead back to 63-56.

“I got some (extra) shots up (in practice) because I’ve been missing some lately,” Cox said. “I came out focused and ready.”

Sioux Falls made two more 3s and took a 68-67 lead — the Cougars’ first since 3-2 — on a three-point play by Alyssa Rushton with 1:39 left. The Cougars made 6 of 8 3s down the stretch before missing a desperation toss at the buzzer.

“They’re a great 3-point shooting team, and we knew that,” Nash said. “They always have five on the floor who can shoot the 3. The first part of the game, we were contesting them and it was harder for them to make them. But then we were getting tired at the end and they were wide open. It’s college … if they’re wide open, they’re going to make the 3.”

But nine wasn’t enough.

“I thought we did a phenomenal job the first half, almost every possession defensively,” Lindley said. “The second half a few of them got away from us. But at the end of the day, if they choose to shot 31 3s out of 62 shots … I’m OK with that, because the percentages are against you.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1027, rob.white@owh.com

twitter.com/RWhiteOWH

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