ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Minnesota State women's basketball (2-2) fell to the Storm of Southern Nazarene (1-0) Friday afternoon 73-56. Southern Nazarene was led by Lauryn Reither who had 26 points, six rebounds and three steals. Minnesota State shot just 32-percent from the field and did not make a 3-pointer.
Minnesota State started out hot, up 5-0. But Southern Nazarene went on a 9-0 run to take the lead. The Mavericks had a tough start offensively, shooting just 3-17 from the field. However, the team outrebounded the Storm 16-10 through the first 10 minutes. Emily Russo and Ava Stier each had three points in the first quarter to lead the Mavericks.
A pair of Bremer free throws tied the game at 16-16. The second quarter featured back-and-forth scoring. An offensive rebound corralled by Conrad, who passed it to Schweim for the jumper put the Mavericks up 25-23, but a Reither 3-pointer tied the game back up. The Storm finished the half up 34-30. Minnesota State shot 26.5-percent from the field in the first half and went 0-6 from deep. The Mavericks outrebounded the Storm 28-17 in the first half. Southern Nazarene shot 42.3-percent from the field and shot 6-14 from three-point range through the first two quarters.
The Mavericks went on a 12-4 run to start the third quarter, making 6-7 shots from the field to put themselves ahead 42-38. Abbi Jiles' three-pointer and Emily Monaghan's layup brought the Minnesota State's lead to one. Two layups later, the Storm were up 49-46. The Storm finished out the quarter up 56-52. Minnesota State shot 11-18 and Southern Nazarene shot 9-13. Both teams scored 22 points in the third.
The Mavericks couldn't get anything going offensively in the fourth quarter. The Storm jumped out to a 62-54 lead after three consecutive layups by Reither. Southern Nazarene won the game 73-56 after outscoring Minnesota State 17-4 in the final period. Minnesota State shot just 1-for-14 from the field in the fourth quarter.
The Mavericks shot 21-66 from the field against Southern Nazarene and did not make a three-point shot. Despite 18 first half free throws, Minnesota State shot just four free throws the rest of the game. Southern Nazarene shot 45.6-percent and 37.5-percent from three-point range. The Mavericks did outrebound the Storm, 47-35, including 18 offensive rebounds which resulted in 14 second chance points.
Natalie Bremer finished out the game leading the Mavericks in scoring with 16 points on 6-14 shooting. Russo and Emily Herzberg each posted eight rebounds. Russo finished with nine points and Herzberg finished with seven. Destinee Bursch managed six points on 3-12 shooting.
Southern Nazarene's Reither had 26 points on 64-percent shooting, including 50-percent from three. Reither also had six rebounds and three steals. Monaghan finished with 14 points. Jiles had 11 points and seven rebounds. Hannah Giddey had 10 points, seven rebounds and nine assists for the Storm.
"Our defense just wasn't what we needed it to be today," said Mavericks head coach Emilee Thiesse. "Our defense creates so much for us and we were missing that. We will regroup and learn from this and work to be better tomorrow."
The Mavericks are back against Fort Hays State tomorrow afternoon, Saturday, Nov. 11 at 2:45 at the St. Joseph Civic Arena to continue the Regional Crossover Challenge.
