Mankato, Minn. — The Minnesota State women's basketball team (11-3, 7-3 NSIC) headed to St. Cloud, Minn. to take on NSIC rival St. Cloud State (11-2, 9-1 NSIC) to try and get back to their winning ways after dropping the previous two. The Mavericks ultimately fell for the third straight time after the Huskies commanding fourth quarter.

Maddy Olson in back-to-back nights eclipsed the 20-point mark as she dropped 20 and hauled in five rebounds in the contest. Destinee Bursch was the only other Maverick to tally a ?double-digit scoring mark with 13 points and four rebounds. Emily Russo led the Mavericks on the glass with six rebounds and two points.

From the tip both teams came out of the gates fast as they each traded three baskets in consecutive possessions. The Mavericks received a taste of their own medicine as the Huskies would introduce their own press. However, the Mavericks were able to decipher it and get across the timeline with ease. Buckets were tough to come by and at the media break the Mavericks trailed 10-8. After the break, Taylor Theusch drove down the left side of the lane and got to the line and knocked down both free-throws to square it up at 10. That would spark a 9-5 run for the Mavericks and would take their first lead in the game. After a Huskies three ball, Theusch would answer the call again with a three of her own and sent the Mavericks to the quarter break up 17-15. 

Points were a tough commodity to come by as neither team got anything going to start the second. The Huskies would hit back-to-back three balls halfway through the quarter and took a 22-19. The Huskie's defense was executing on all cylinders and allowed just seven points in the second. The Huskies owned a 29-24 lead at half.

The Mavericks raced out of the break with a 7-0 run to regain the lead as the defense made life tough for the Huskies in the beginning of the quarter. This offensive outburst didn't stop there as the Mavericks stretched that run to 16-4 into the third quarter media break. Olson carried her hot hand over from last night as she was the sole proprietor in this run with six points. The Huskies however found new life as they finished on a 9-2 run to retake the lead 43-42 at the break. 

The Huskies offensive surge continued to a 17-2 run and took a 50-42 lead to begin the fourth. The hot start was finally cooled by a steal from Joey Batt and finished by Olson on the other end. At the media break, the Mavericks had only scored two points in the fourth. The Mavericks offense continued to be stagnant as the Huskies couldn't be stopped as they outscored the Mavericks 23-10 in the fourth. The Mavericks would drop their third straight with a final of 66-52

As a team, the Mavericks shot 19-63 from the field for 30.2% and 4-23 from three-point range. The Mavericks were out rebounded 50-36 this evening. However, the Mavericks forced 17 turnovers and earned 12 steals against the Huskies.

The Mavericks return to the court next weekend at Taylor Center and square off against Bemidji State on Jan. 14 with tip-off slated for 7:30 p.m.

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