BETHANY, Okla. --- The Minnesota State women's basketball team saw four starters reach double figures in the scoring column as it earned a 78-66 wire-to-wire victory over Fort Hays State in the second round of the 2024 NCAA Division II Tournament. The Mavericks entered the tournament as the seventh seed, Fort Hays State was seeded third.
 
With the win, Minnesota State advances to the NCAA Regional Finals for the fourth time in program history, a feat which it also accomplished in 1986, 2008 and 2009. 
 
Offensively, the Mavericks were paced by junior Destinee Bursch who scored 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor to go with a 5-of-6 effort from the charity stripe.  Sophomore Natalie Bremer added 18 points to go with her team-high 10 rebounds. Bremer's double-double was the first of her career and the ten rebounds is a career-high.
 
The Mavericks came out swinging as they scored nine points in the first 70 seconds of game to race to a 9-0 lead. It was that initial surge that set the tone for the remainder of the game.
 
"We're able to make runs at any point of the game," said head coach Emilee Thiesse. "But that's a huge credit to an incredible group of leaders we have that can go out and get that start to a game, but I also think we had great starts the second quarter and the second half as well. It's not about winning it in the first two minutes of the game, but it takes the pressure off."
 
The stifling Maverick defense ultimately forced 15 first half Tiger turnovers, converting them into 17 points en route to opening a 41-31 halftime advantage.
 
Minnesota State shot 48.5% in the opening period as Bursch and senior Emily Herzberg paced the way with ten points apiece. 
 
The two teams played back-and-forth basketball for much of the third quarter with Fort Hays trimming the Maverick lead to six with just over five minutes to go in the period. The defense responded however as Minnesota State closed out the quarter scoring six points in the final minute of the stanza with the ball never leaving their side of the court taking a 62-47 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
"Our chemistry (on defense) is great together," said Bursch. "We know how to play off each other and we know how to find each other and that's exactly what we did."
 
Fort Hays State would pull within eight with at 72-64 with 2:28 remaining, however that the closest it would get in the games waning moments.

On top of her team-high 19 points, Bursch led the team with six assists as Minnesota finished with 14 assists on 29 field goals.  Seniors Emily Herzberg and Joey Batt each added 14 points.  Batt and sophomore Hannah Herzig each gathered five steals.  As a team, Minnesota State forced 35 Tiger turnovers scoring 35 points – 44.8% – of their points off those miscues.
 
With the win, the Mavericks improved to 28-5 on the season.
 
Minnesota State will await the winner of the Harding and Southern Nazarene game later this evening Monday night at 7:00 p.m.
 
  Watch the post game press conference with head coach Emilee Thiesse and junior guard Destinee Bursch