MANKATO, Minn. – No. 12 Minnesota State (9-2, 5-0 NSIC) fended off a late fourth-quarter comeback from Sioux Falls (6-6, 2-3 NSIC) to win 91-88 at home Saturday night. The Mavericks had a balanced team effort with seven players scoring eight or more points in the victory. Freshman Elisabeth Gadient sunk clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the game for the home team. She led the team with 17 points, four assists and four steals and also grabbed five rebounds.
 
Over the game's first two minutes, the Mavericks jumped out to a 10-0 lead as the team made five of its first six shots from the field. Hannah Herzig opened the game with back-to-back layups and assisted on a make from Mackenzie Schweim to establish an early lead over the Cougars. Sioux Falls chipped back into the Minnesota State lead, as Aby Phipps made a layup to make it a 12-7 game. Ava Stier made consecutive jumpers, one a two-pointer, the other a three, to put the Mavericks up 22-10 with three minutes remaining in the first quarter. Despite some made buckets from the home team, USF outscored Minnesota State in the final two and a half minutes of the period to put the score at 28-19 heading into the second period.
 
Stier made a layup to spark the scoring in the second quarter, followed by two layups from freshman Lucy Leininger to put the Mavericks up 13. Cougar forward Kami Wadsworth hit a three-pointer to cut USF's deficit to single digits. After a two from Destinee Bursch, Wadsworth made good on four shots at the free throw line to make it a six-point game. Gadient made the most of an and-one opportunity to push the Maverick lead to nine. The freshman made another layup in response to a Cougar three and dished out an assist to Herzig to put the team back up by 10 with 5:41 left in the half. Gadient assisted on another MSU make, this time a three from Schweim to put the team up 48-36. Adeline Kent matched a Phipps three with one of her own on the other end to put the Mavericks up by 14. Sioux Falls closed out the second quarter on a 6-2 run to make it a 10-point game headed into the locker room for halftime. Minnesota State led 55-45.
 
In the first half, Minnesota State shot 53.5% from the field and 37.5% from beyond the three-point line. MSU forced 17 turnovers and had 12 first-half steals against USF. The team also had 11 offensive rebounds which resulted in 13 second-chance points through the first two quarters.
 
At halftime, eight players had six points or more. Stier led the team with nine points in the first 20 minutes. She ended the first with four rebounds and three assists while shooting a perfect 4-4 from the field. Schweim and Gadient both scored seven in the first half and combined for five steals. Natalie Bremer, Bursch, Herzig, Leininger and Kent all scored six points each.
 
Wadsworth and Phipps had 15 and 13 points, respectively, in the first half. USF shot 60% from the field and made 3-6 from deep.
 
After two Minnesota State free throws, the Cougars scored a quick seven points, thanks to five points from Alexis Rose and a layup from Phipps to cut the deficit to five. Freshman Rhyan Holmgren made a three-pointer and Gadient hit her first three of the game less than a minute later to put the Mavericks back up by eight. Gadient hit another shot from behind the arc to put MSU up 67-55 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. After Maverick posts Lilly Nuytten and Mallory Czinano hit a pair of shots, Sioux Falls made seven free throws over a minute to cut the lead to eight, but Bursch made a layup to close out the quarter. Minnesota State led 74-64 after three.
 
 Leininger made a Herzig-assisted layup to kick off the scoring in the final quarter, but Rose for USF went on a 7-0 run by herself, making a three and two layups to make it a five-point game. Holmgren converted an and-one opportunity after she got fouled on a layup to extend the Maverick lead back to nine points. After the and-one, Sioux Falls went perfect from the field over the following three minutes to take the lead 85-83 after a 13-2 run from the Cougars. Wadsworth had seven points in that stretch. With 1:16 on the clock, Czinano grabbed an offensive rebound off a miss and put it back up and in to tie the game at 85-85. Wadsworth committed an offensive foul on the other end to send Bremer to the free throw line, where she sunk both attempts to put MSU up by two. Rose made a free throw and missed another to keep it a one-point game. The Cougars fouled Gadient twice in the last 0:13 of the game and the freshman sunk all four of her free throws to hold off Sioux Falls. Minnesota State won the game 91-88 after USF outscored the Mavericks 24-17 in the final period.
 
Minnesota State made 44.7% of its field goals (34-76 FG) in the win, including 6-15 from three (40% 3P). The Mavericks were 17-23 on free throw attempts (73.9% FT). The team ended with 38 rebounds, 17 offensive boards, 23 assists and 19 steals. MSU ended with 15 second-chance points and 15 fast-break points.
 
Gadient's free throws down the stretch helped her set a new career-high with 17 points scored in the win. She was also tied for the Maverick lead in steals and assists, with four of each. She grabbed five rebounds. Both Bremer and Bursch scored 10 points against USF. Bremer led the team with nine rebounds, including five offensive boards. Leininger scored nine points and had three steals and a block on a Cougar fast-break opportunity. Herzig and Holmgren ended with eight points each.
 
USF had three players finish with 20 or more points. Wadsworth led the way with 27 points. Phipps recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Rose finished with 23 points, five steals and shot 2-3 from three-point range. The Cougars shot 57.7% from the field in the loss and turned the ball over 31 times.
 
"Our team showed great urgency to start both games this weekend and set the tone with our defense," said Minnesota State head coach Emilee Thiesse. "We are taking great strides as a team and, while our consistency needs to improve, we are seeing great spurts of what this team is capable of and how well we play together."
 
The Mavericks have a pair of NSIC games slated for next week. First, Minnesota State will host No. 13 Concordia-St. Paul (11-0, 5-0 NSIC) in a battle for the top of the conference next Thursday, December 19 at 5:30 p.m. in the Taylor Center. Then, the Mavericks go on the road to challenge Winona State (6-5, 2-3 NSIC) on Saturday, December 21 at 1 p.m. Both games will be streamed on the NSIC Network.