MANKATO, Minn. – No. 12 Minnesota State (8-2, 4-0 NSIC) won its home conference opener against Southwest Minnesota State (8-2, 2-2 NSIC) after the Mavericks dropped their 2023-24 National Championship banner Friday night, 101-83. Senior guard Destinee Bursch ended with 20 points, four steals and a new career-high nine assists in the win. Natalie Bremer led MSU with 21 points, five rebounds and seven steals. Her steals total tied her career best.
 
Junior point guard Hannah Herzig scored the game's opening layup and assisted on a pair of scores from Bursch and Bremer to put the Mavericks up 6-2 early. Bursch made two buckets before Bremer sunk an and-one jumper, with the made free throw putting the home team up by nine early in the opening quarter. After the Mustangs made a three-pointer to cut the Maverick lead to six, Minnesota State went on an 11-0 run to go up 26-9. Ava Stier made a layup and capped off the run with a three. Southwest Minnesota State responded with a 12-2 run of its own over the next two and a half minutes to cut the MSU lead back to single digits. Herzig closed the quarter with a layup to give the Mavericks a 32-23 lead after ten minutes of action.
 
Bri Stoltzman for SMSU scored a layup to get the second quarter started. Minnesota State went on a 9-2 run that saw scores from Bursch, newcomers Lucy Leininger and Adeline Kent, and Bremer, which put the team up 41-27. Freshman Elisabeth Gadient hit a three in response to a Mustang three on the other end with 5:52 remaining in the first half. Three minutes later, Bremer hit a baseline jumper which gave her 15 points in the game and put Minnesota State up by 16. On the Mavericks' next possession, Bursch converted an and-one to increase the lead. Gadient hit her second three-pointer of the quarter with 1:21 left in the quarter, which was met by a three on the other end by Peyton Blandin. Bursch made a layup with 0:34 left in the half and found Leininger for a layup to give Minnesota State a 63-42 lead headed into halftime.
 
Minnesota State shot an outstanding 66.7% from the field in the first half, which included a first quarter that saw the Mavericks make 73.7% of its field goal attempts. In the first two quarters, the Mavericks made three of seven attempts from beyond the arc and sunk eight free throws. After 20 minutes of play, MSU had forced 24 turnovers and had 19 steals which resulted in 35 points.
 
Bursch ended the first half with 13 points, six assists and three steals. Bremer had 15 points and five steals at halftime.
 
The Mustang's starting post player, Natalie Nielsen, ended the first half with 14 points.
 
SMSU hit a three-pointer 10 seconds into the third quarter to start the second half's scoring. Bremer made consecutive two-pointers followed by a Bursch-assisted layup from Mackenzie Schweim, who nailed a three the next time down the court to put the Mavericks up 72-49 with seven minutes to go in the quarter. Lilly Nuytten made the most of an and-one opportunity to put the team up by 22. Over the final three minutes of the quarter, the Mustangs outscored MSU 10-6 to make the score 86-65 headed into the final period.
 
Schweim opened the fourth quarter with a layup before a 5-0 Mustang run cut the team's lead to 18. Bursch made back-to-back twos to put Minnesota State up 92-70. Bursch found Schweim for her second three of the night with five minutes remaining in the game. A pair of free throws from Bremer put her at 21 points and she assisted on a Herzig layup to maintain the Mavericks' 21-point lead. Herzig made a layup to put the team over the century mark. Minnesota State defeated the SMSU Mustangs 101-83.
 
The Mavericks had their best shooting performance of the season as the team fired at a 53.2% clip from the field (41-77 FG). MSU made 5-17 from three (29.4% 3P) and 14-17 from the charity stripe (82.4% FT). The Mavericks scored 58 points in the paint and 45 points off 36 turnovers forced. Minnesota State ended with 25 steals, 35 rebounds, 24 assists and two blocked shots.
 
Bremer was the team leader in points (21), and steals (7) and was tied for the team lead in rebounds (5). She shot 9-15 from the field and made all three of her free throw attempts. Bursch was right behind Bremer with 20 points scored. She finished with two boards, nine assists and four steals. Schweim ended with 12 points and two made three-pointers. Herzig had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
 
Nielsen was the leading scorer for the Mustangs. She ended with 28 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals. The Mavericks held each of the top three scorers for SMSU under their season averages. The Mustangs shot 45.2% from the field in the loss.
 
The Mavericks are back in action tomorrow evening, December 14 at 5:30 p.m. in the Taylor Center, to face off against the Cougars from the University of Sioux Falls (6-5, 2-2 NSIC). Minnesota State has won the last seven games against the Cougars.