Mankato, Minn. ---- In its home opener, the Minnesota State women's basketball team fell to Missouri-St. Louis, 61-52, on Sunday afternoon at Taylor Center. MSU held a 44-41 lead over UMSL after three quarters, but the Tritons rallied back and outscored the Mavericks 20-8 in the fourth quarter.

With the loss, MSU's overall record falls to 0-3.

Heading into the break, the Mavericks held a 28-26 lead over the Tritons as the first half it was tightly contested between MSU and UMSL.  The largest lead at any point in the first half was a five point margin, as both teams each held a five point lead at one point in the half. Overall the first half saw four lead changes and two ties, while the Tritons led for 13:07 in the half.

MSU shot 36% (10-28) from the field in the first half and 50% (3-6) from three-point range, as UMSL connected on 37% (11-30) of its shots in the half and recorded four three pointers, including three in the first quarter alone. The Mavericks owned the boards in the first half as they grabbed 24 rebounds and held UMSL to 13. With the rebounding advantage, MSU outscored UMSL 10-0 on second chance points.

Leading the Mavericks at halftime was sophomore Claire Ziegler [Mankato, Minn.], as she posted a team-high eight points, along with three boards, while senior McKenzie Hoelmenn [Lakeville, Minn.] added six first half points and three rebounds.

To start the third quarter the Tritons scored the first two points of the half to tie the game up at 28-28. After that MSU went on a 9-0 run that was jump started by back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore Madison Lee [Coon Rapids, Minn.] and Britney Scherber [Bloomington, Minn.]. The Mavericks would cling on to their lead for the majority of the rest of the quarter before UMSL tied the game up back at 41-41 with five seconds left. It looked as though both teams would be tied going into the fourth quarter, until Lee nailed a half court buzzer beater to give the Mavericks a 44-41 lead over the Tritons.

The Tritons started the fourth quarter on a 12-1 run to give them a 53-45 lead over the Mavericks with 5:11 remaining in the game. The UMSL run proved to be too much for MSU as the Mavericks were able to only to trim the Tritons lead down to five, 54-49, with 3:07 left in the game. UMSL held strong to its lead and won the game, 61-52.

In the second half the Mavericks shot 29% (6-21) from the field, while the Tritons converted on 36% (11-31) of their shot attempts. MSU also turned the ball over 15 times in the second half, while UMSL coughed it up just six times.
Overall after the MSU held +11 rebounding margin in the first half, UMSL was able to tie the margin up as both teams recorded 38 rebounds in the game. The Tritons also took advantage of the Mavericks turnovers as they outscored MSU 21-6 in points off turnovers.

In the game Lee led the Mavericks with 13 points and three rebounds and shot 3-of-5 from three. Hoelmenn finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Ziegler also ended the game in double-figures. The Mankato, Minn. native tallied 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Scherber added seven points, two assists and two rebounds to her stat line.

The Mavericks will return to action on Saturday as they will play host #8 Michigan Tech. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. at Taylor Center. The game will mark as MSU's final nonconference game of the regular season.