DULUTH, Minn. – Minnesota State women's basketball (4-1) defeated the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs (2-4) on the road 82-64. The Mavericks won their second consecutive game against the Bulldogs at Romano Gymnasium as senior guard Destinee Bursch scored 17 points in the win. Three of the other starters for MSU reached double figures also.
 
After the Bulldogs won the tipoff, a steal from Bursch led to an easy look at the basket for Hannah Herzig, who scored the first two buckets of the game for Minnesota State, went to the foul line and made one to put the Mavericks up 5-4 early. A three from the Bulldogs gave the home team the lead and an and-one layup from Lexi Karlen put Minnesota Duluth up 10-6. Herzig found a cutting Ava Stier with a nice bounce pass for an easy layup.  A euro-step laid in by Elisabeth Gadient tied the game at 12-12. After a pair of free throws from Mackenzie Schweim, the Mavericks forced a shot clock violation on the defensive end and Herzig had a layup inside off an offensive rebound to put the team up three. Gadient was gifted a wide-open layup with a minute to go in the first quarter to give Minnesota State a five-point lead. When the quarter ended, the Mavericks led 25-20.
 
Bursch scored her first basket of the game to start the scoring for the team in the second, and a make from Adeline Kent put the Mavericks up 29-22. Bursch made a layup off an inbound to go up by nine, but the Bulldogs got a bucket in transition to cut the lead back to seven. Lilly Nuytten made a layup and following a turnover, Gadient found fellow freshman Rhyan Holmgren under the basket for an easy lay, which put the Mavericks up by double-digits. A three from Claire Bojorge and a layup cut the lead to six but a pair of Stier makes at the line put MSU up 39-31. Bursch found Stier at the hoop for a layup after she made a two-point pull-up jumper herself to give the Mavericks a 12-point lead. Bursch made an acrobatic layup to end the half and give Minnesota State a 13-point lead headed into the locker room, 47-34.
 
The Mavericks shot 48.7% from the field in the first half and made 8-10 from the charity stripe. The team forced 14 turnovers and scored 20 points from those takeaways. MSU grabbed 23 rebounds and dished out seven assists in the first two quarters.
 
Bursch led all scorers with 10 at the half. She also had three boards, two assists and two steals. Herzig and Stier both ended the half with nine points. Stier had six rebounds and Herzig tallied four boards, an assist, a steal and a block.
 
Minnesota Duluth scored the first two buckets of the second half to cut the Maverick lead to single digits. Holmgren posted up and made a jumper for MSU's first points of the third quarter. Myra Moorjani finished a tough layup to put the Bulldogs down by nine with 6:48 left in the period. A floater in the lane from Holmgren gave Minnesota State a 52-40 lead headed into the first media timeout of the half. Bursch and Gadient put the Mavericks up 18 with easy layup opportunities after offensive rebounds to cap off a 9-0 run for the away team. Schweim hit a deep three and pair of free throws to put the team up 65-46 to end the third quarter.
It took the Mavericks nearly three minutes to find the bottom of the net in the fourth quarter. Schweim hit another three, but Bjorge responded with one of her own to put the score at 68-53. Karlen cut the Maverick lead to 13 with a layup with 5:43 remaining in regulation but Bursch made a layup to put the team back up by 15 on the other end. Five-straight points from the Bulldogs made it a 10-point game, but Gadient swished a three to put the Mavericks up 73-60. Bursch made three free throws to give the team a 14-point lead with two minutes to go. Minnesota State closed out the game and won by a score of 82-64.
 
Minnesota State shot 43.3% from the field, made 4-12 from three (33.3% 3P) and made 20-26 from the free throw line (76.9% FT). The team ended with 43 rebounds, 12 assists and 14 steals. The Mavericks forced 27 Bulldog turnovers and scored 32 points off them.
 
Bursch led the Mavericks with 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and four steals in the win. Herzig and Stier each had 13 points against UMD. Stier was one rebound shy of a double-double. Herzig had three assists, six rebounds and four steals. Schweim scored 12 points on 2-4 shooting from beyond the arc.
 
Karlen led the Bulldogs with 19 points and 10 boards.
 
"The win feels great," said head coach Emilee Thiesse. "Any road conference games are always tough, so to be able to win feels great. We found a way to win and our team is hungry to grow and improve. We hit a majority of our statistical goals tonight. To be able to go on the road and accomplish those goals makes me the most proud."
 
The Mavericks continue the road trip as the team will play Colorado School of Mines (1-4) and Regis (1-2) on Friday and Saturday. MSU takes on the Orediggers at 6 p.m. CDT on Friday, November 29. On Saturday, the Mavericks play the Rangers at 4 p.m. CDT.