San Antonio, Texas --- The Minnesota State women's basketball team (5-0, 1-0 NSIC) entered todays St. Mary's Thanksgiving Classic finale 4-0 and were looking to remain perfect on the young season. The Mavericks were able to do just that as they defeated the St. Mary's Rattlers in a wild fourth quarter contest Saturday evening with a final score of 81-72.
The Mavericks in the first continued with the same theme of pressure from Friday. The high intensity defense led to three steals capped off by eight consecutive points by Batt to begin the game. The Mavericks domination would continue as they would increase that to 17-6 run soon after. The Rattlers would hang tight as they kept it to a single digit margin to end the first. The Mavericks led 23-15. The Mavericks tempo remained up in the second. Freshman Destinee Bursch would help the Mavericks extend the lead further on the back of two three balls at a score of 41-26 just over halfway through the second. The Mavericks forced 16 first half turnovers which led to 18 points and catapulted them to a 20-point lead at half with a score of 47-27.
Sophomore Taylor Theusch would lead the Mavericks in scoring at half with 10. As a team, the Mavericks shot 51% from the field and 31% from behind the arc. The Mavericks were once again dominate in the paint with 30 points. Senior Rylee Menster would lead the Mavericks in rebounds and assists at half with six and four.
The Mavericks would hold true to themselves and continue to apply the pressure and finish on the offensive end. The Mavericks led by as much as 22 in third. Three Mavericks would reach double digit scoring as Batt, Theusch and Bursch would all hit that mark in the third. The Mavericks were out scored in the third 24-22 but, still had a commanding 69-51 lead at the end of the third. The fourth saw a burst of life from the Rattlers as they came out of the break on a 10-0 run to get the lead down to nine. Theusch would answer for the Mavericks with a deep three to push the lead back to double digits at 12. The Rattlers would continue their resurgence as they would get the Maverick lead down to five with just under three minutes remaining in the game on the back of Hannah Wilson who had 37 points in the contest. The Rattlers would get it as close as four but, the Mavericks would be able to pull this one out against the surging Rattlers.
As a team, the Mavericks were led offensively by sophomore Joey Battwho dropped 17 and had 5 steals. This was her fifth consecutive game to score over 15 points. The Mavericks offense also saw three others hit the double-digit mark as Theusch, Menster and Bursch had 15, 14 and 12 points respectively. Russo once again led the Mavericks on the boards with seven. The Mavericks shot 47.8% from the field and 31.3% from downtown.
The Mavericks will return home to jump back into NSIC action as they play host to the Peacocks of Upper Iowa on Thursday, December 2nd at Taylor Center with tip-off slated for 7:30 p.m., Then, the Mavericks head to Winona State to take on the Warriors on Saturday, December 4th with tip set for 3:30 p.m.
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