MANKATO, Minn. – The #17 Minesota State women's basketball team (20-4, 17-1 NSIC) extended its win streak to 18 games against Wayne State (5-15, 2-15 NSIC) Friday night. The Mavericks defeated the Wildcats 101-57 to break the record previously held by the 2008-09 National Championship team. MSU went on a 29-0 run during the first and second quarters to open the Maverick lead early in the game. With the win, the Mavericks also take control of a share of the NSIC regular season title.

Junior Destinee Bursch led all scorers with 22 points on 9-11 field goal shooting and had five assists.
The Wildcats matched the Mavericks 2-2 after Ava Stier opened scoring in the game with a layup. A three sunk by Emily Herzberg put MSU up 7-2 with 8:19 left in the quarter. A Wayne State layup would cut the Minnesota State lead to six. A pair of Maya Fitzpatrick free throws with 5:37 left in the first quarter would be the last scoring the Wildcats would see for a while.

Minnesota State proceeded to go on a 29-0 run over the next nine and a half minutes. The Mavericks shot 12-21 from the field during that run, including three of five from beyond the arc. Natalie Bremer led MSU in that stretch with eight points, including a three-pointer and an and-one layup at the end of the first quarter. Joey Batt and Mackenzie Schweim both had six points in that run and Bursch scored five. By the end of the run, Minnesota State led 42-7.

A layup from Britney Ho ended the massive Minnesota State run. Bremer responded immediately with a jumper. Both teams hit three-pointers to make the score 51-12, Mavericks. Taylor Theusch got her first minutes and made her first shot after missing the first 23 games of the season due to injury. Schweim hit a three-pointer with 0:11 left in the half. Minnesota State went into halftime with a huge lead, 61-21.

The Mavericks had a monster first half; Minnesota State shot 66% from the field in the first half, including 6-10 from three and 5-6 from the free throw line. The team had 16 assists in the first half. The Mavericks forced 19 turnovers in the first half and had 10 steals. MSU scored 28 points off turnovers and 18 points in the paint.

Minnesota State's 61-point first half is the fourth time the team has scored 60 points in a half since 2007. The last time the Maverick scored 60 in a half was Nov. 2022 when MSU put up 66 against Bethany Lutheran.

Bursch led the Mavericks in scoring in the first half. She scored 16 points (7-8 FG) in the first half and had three assists. Bremer had 12 points and five steals heading into the locker room. Schweim had 10 points, making all three of her three-point attempts. Batt had eight points, three assists and two steals in the first half.

Wayne State shot a 37% field goal percentage in the first half, making two of its six three-point attempts. The Wildcats had half as many shot attempts in the first half as Minnesota State had. Ho was the team's leading scorer in the first half, finishing with seven points.

Bursch went on a nine second 6-0 run to begin the second half, making two layups off two Wayne State turnovers. Both teams slowly traded buckets back and forth until Hannah Herzig made a pair of layups that put Minnesota State 73-29 with 3:31 left in the quarter. Batt made a couple of baskets extending the Minnesota State lead to 46 points. The third quarter ended at 81-34, MSU.

The teams exchanged baskets to start the final period. Bailey Conrad sunk a three to put the Mavericks up 90-40 with a little over six minutes left in the game. Delaney Clark for Wayne State hit two threes back-to-back to cut into the lead, but it was well too late for the Wildcats. Schweim hit a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter to put the Mavericks over the century-mark, closing out the game by a score of 101-57.

The Mavericks shot 51% from the floor (40-78 FG) and 41% from deep (9-22 3PT) against Wayne State. Minnesota State grabbed seven more rebounds than Wayne State, including 17 offensive rebounds. The Mavericks scored 40 of their points in the paint and scored 42 points off turnovers. MSU had 18 steals and forced 29 turnovers against Wayne State.

Bursch was the game's leading scorer, finishing with 22 points on 9-11 field goal shooting. The junior also had five assists and one steal.  Schweim ended with 16 points on 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc. Schweim also grabbed six rebounds and had one steal. Batt and Bremer both scored 14 points against the Wildcats. Those two combined for nine total steals. Herzig also finished in double figures, ending with 10 points, five assists and a steal.

Wayne State shot 40% (20-50 FG) against the Mavericks, including five three-point makes in 15 attempts. The Wildcats turned the ball over 29 times against MSU. Clark was the Wildcats' leading scorer, finishing with 17 points, making 5-6 from three.

The Mavericks are back in action tomorrow evening, taking on the Vikings of Augustana (6-15, 5-12 NSIC) at 3:30 p.m. at the Taylor Center. Minnesota State has beaten Augustana in each of the last six matchups.