Bemidji, Minn. --- The Minnesota State University women's basketball team opened up the 2021 season with a 63-62 win on the road against Bemidji State University Saturday afternoon. With the season opening victory, MSU moves to 1-0 on the season while BSU drops to 0-1.

From the opening tip the Mavericks looked to pressure the ball on defense forcing the Beavers into several early turnovers and contested trips up the floor. After the first quarter of action Minnesota State led Bemidji State 21-18 and had forced five turnovers, scoring eight points off of them.

The Mavericks opened up the second quarter with a 6-0 run fueled by a pair of back-to-back turnovers that MSU turned into immediate points. Joey Batt and Tayla Stuttley both kept the pressure up on the offensive end and Minnesota State took a 38-28 lead into the half.

At halftime, Stuttley led all scorers with nine points while Batt added eight of her own. The Mavericks shot 44% from the floor compared to 36% from the Beavers and forced a total of 14 turnovers which resulted in 19 points.

In the second half the Beavers defense managed to flip the script and were able to outscore the Mavericks 8-0 off of turnovers, but down the stretch senior Rachel Shumski scored six of the last 10 Minnesota State points as the Mavericks held on for the 63-62 victory after the Beavers managed a layup needing three points to tie in the final seconds.

Shumski and Rylee Menster finished the game tied as the leading scorers for the Mavericks with 12 points apiece while Batt finished with 10. Kristi Fett led the way with 10 rebounds to go with eight points while both Shumski and Brooke Tonsfeldt added eight boards of their own.

As a team the Mavericks shot 39.1% from the floor and forced the Beavers into 19 turnovers.

MSU wraps up its nonconference schedule tomorrow with a rematch against the Beavers with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 p.m.