Aberdeen, S.D. – The Minnesota State women's basketball team played a frenetic and exciting game ultimately taking a 71-65 loss against the Northern State Wolves Saturday evening at Wachs Arena.
 
With the loss, the Mavericks fall to 11-9 (8-8 NSIC), while the Wolves improve to 12-10 (8-8 NSIC).
 
In the opening minutes of the game the Mavericks forced the Wolves to take a timeout after jumping to a 6-2 lead behind four steals from MSU.  The defensive pressure kept Northern State out of rhythm the entire quarter, and the Mavericks took an 18-13 lead into the break.

The defenses for both teams completely clamped down in the second quarter, and at the media timeout, the MSU lead was cut to 22-20.  The Wolves managed to claim the lead in the final minutes, taking a 31-28 advantage into halftime.

Kirstin Klitzke finished the half with nine points to lead the Mavericks while Taylor Drost added six points of her own.  MSU forced the Wolves into 14 turnovers, stealing the ball 10 times in the half. 

Northern State opened the second half with an 8-4 run forcing the Mavericks to use a timeout early.  Once again MSU roared back, cutting the deficit to just two points and after a back and forth remainder of the quarter, the Wolves took a 52-47 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks once again engaged in heavy defensive pressure in the fourth, and after a pair of free throws from Klitzke, they cut the Northern State lead to 58-56 with four minutes left in regulation.  Down by five with just under a minute to go, Tayla Stuttley nailed a three-pointer from the left wing cutting the Wolves lead to 65-63 with 54.9 seconds to go.  On the next possession, Northern State converted a pair of free throws and the Mavericks advanced the ball with a timeout. 

MSU turned over the ball on the next play but the Wolves missed both free throws allowing Drost to hit a jumper to cut the lead to two points with 14.6 seconds to go.  Northern State managed to convert their next two free throws while the Mavericks used their final timeout to advance the ball down four with 13.4 to go.  MSU managed to get off a contested three-pointer but the shot went long and after the Wolves collected the rebound forcing a foul, they made their shots and earned the 71-65 win.

Drost led the Mavericks with 15-points while Klitzke finished with 13 and Joey Batt finished with 10.  Brooke Tonsfeldt led the team in rebounds with 10 while adding eight points.  As a team,  MSU forced 27 turnovers compared to 11, but were out-rebounded 44-30. 
 
The Mavericks will return home next weekend for a pair of games against Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State.