Mankato, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's basketball team (11-1, 7-1 NSIC) returned from the holiday break to host the Concordia-St. Paul women's basketball team (10-2, 6-2 NSIC) in the first game of 2022. The Mavericks would fall to the Golden Bears on a last second shot 85-83.

Joey Batt led the Mavericks in scoring this evening as she knocked down a team high 19 in the contest. Emily Russo and Maddy Olson also reached double figures in the points column as they notched 16 and 10, respectively. Russo also led the Mavericks on the glass with eight rebounds. 

The Mavericks wasted no time getting on the board as Mikayla Nachazel would win the opening tip and Olson put in the layup on the other end. The Mavericks, however, would find themselves down 10-8 after a Golden Bear three ball. The Mavericks answered with a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 20-10. Molly Ihle would knock down two free-throws to end the first quarter with the Mavericks leading 22-12. To begin the second Taylor Theusch would continue the offensive surge as she knocked down a corner three-pointer to extend the lead to 13. The Golden Bears answered with a 9-0 run to get within four with 6:40 left in the half. Concordia-St. Paul would find some success defeating the Maverick press and whittled the lead down to one.  The Golden Bears would remain in striking distance as it was a one possession game but, not before Batt knocked down a three ball from the top of the key to push the lead back to five. The Mavericks would take a 45-41 advantage to the locker room at halftime.

As a team, the Mavericks went 18-41 from the field good for 43.9%. They would knock down seven of 12 three-pointers which was 58.3%. The Mavericks out rebounded the Golden Bears 27-16 in the first half. Mavericks were perfect from the charity going two for two. 

The Golden Bears kept pace with Mavericks and would even the score up at 47. The Mavericks would not trail in the third as they were able to re-establish themselves offensively and led by nine several times in the third. The Mavericks held a six-point lead at the end of three. The determination of the Golden Bears would propel them to a one-point lead deep in the fourth with a score of 74-73. Shortly after, the Mavericks would regain the lead after a pair of Nachazel free throws. From there, the Mavericks would not lead again in the game. Batt would hit a floater down the middle of the lane to square it up at 83 with 34 seconds remaining. After a pair of missed free throws by the Golden Bears they would get their own rebound and hit a jumper from the right side of the key to take an 85-83 lead with two seconds remaining. The Mavericks called a timeout to advance the ball to half court but were not able to get a shot off as time expired. The Mavericks fell 85-83.

As a team, the Mavericks shot 40% from the field, 40% from three-point range and were a perfect seven of seven from the free-throw line. The Mavericks out rebounded the Golden Bears 46-42. The Mavericks forced 22 turnovers compared to their 15. 

The Mavericks return to the floor Friday Jan. 7 as they hit the road to take on the Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m., Then, on Saturday Jan. 8 the Mavericks travel to St. Cloud State to wrap-up the weekend with tip-off set 5:30 p.m.

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