ABERDEEN, S.D. – No. 6 Minnesota State (17-3, 13-1 NSIC) had its 13-game win streak snapped on the road at Northern State (11-7, 9-4 NSIC) on Friday night. The Wolves bounced back after a shaky first quarter and never looked back. Destinee Bursch ended the night with 27 points, eight rebounds and two steals in the loss.
 
Bursch started the scoring with a layup inside, then Natalie Bremer sunk a three-pointer to put the Mavericks up 5-0. After the Wolves got on the board, Bursch made another jumper in the lane to put MSU up 7-2. After she subbed in, Adeline Kent grabbed a Maverick miss and put it back up for two, then Bursch scored her third bucket of the game with a fadeaway from the block to put MSU up 11-2, which forced a Northern State timeout. Freshman Elisabeth Gadient made back-to-back layups out of the timeout to give Minnesota State a 13-point lead. The Wolves cut the Maverick lead to single digits with a pair of jumpers, then Bursch dished out an assist to Ava Stier off an inbound play. Rianna Fillipi made her third basket of the game for Northern State, but Stier made a three-pointer on the other end to put MSU up 20-9. Rhyan Holmgren made an and-one layup at the end of the first quarter to put the Mavericks up 24-13 after 10 minutes.
 
Fillipi kicked off the second quarter with a three-pointer to put a dent in the MSU lead. Bursch was fouled on a made layup and sunk the free throw to put the team back up double digits. The Wolves scored on consecutive possessions before Bursch made a three-pointer to put the Mavericks up 30-20. Northern State cut its deficit to five after a three from Morgan Fielder and eventually made it a three-point game with 5:26 left to play in the half. Gadient made a jumper from deep to give MSU a six-point advantage. Fillipi made a three to cut the Maverick lead to one as, with four minutes left in the quarter, the Wolves were on a 21-11 run in the second. Bremer made a jumper on the other end, but Michaela Jewett tied the game at 37-37 with a three. Northern State took a two-point lead with a pair of makes at the free-throw line. Bursch made her second three of the game to give MSU the lead back, but Jewett made a three of her own in the corner to give NSU a 42-40 lead after 20 minutes.
 
Minnesota State shot 44.4% from the floor in the first half and made 5-9 from beyond the arc. After the team forced seven Wolves turnovers in the first quarter, Northern State didn't turn the ball over the rest of the half.
 
Bursch led all scorers with 18 first-half points on 7-12 field goal shooting. She was tied for the team lead with three rebounds. Gadient had seven points and a steal after 20 minutes of action. Both Bremer and Stier had five points through the first two quarters.
 
Northern State outscored MSU 29-16 in the second quarter. The Wolves ended the half with a 51.6% field goal percentage and also made five three-pointers. Fillipi scored 17 in the first half with seven makes in 10 shots.
 
Bursch tied up the score with a jumper to start the second half, but the Wolves took the lead right back on the other end with a Jewett layup. Those two made back-to-back layups to make it a 46-44 game. Fielder made back-to-back two-pointers to put the Wolves up by six. Mackenzie Schweim made her first basket of the game after grabbing an offensive rebound off a free throw miss. She was fouled and made the free throw to make it a one-point game. The Wolves bounced back on a 7-0 run to put the home team up by eight points. Jewett put Northern State up by 10 with a layup that gave her 20 points on the night, but Holmgren sunk a three on the other end to push back. Jewett made her third triple of the game which was met with a two-point jumper on the wing from Stier in response. The two teams traded buckets back and forth until Madelyn Bragg made an and-one layup to put the Wolves up 68-56. Bremer made a trio of free throws as the Mavericks trailed 70-59 after three quarters.
 
Fielder made the first shot of the quarter for the Wolves to put the home team up 14. Bursch made a two-point jumper in response, but NSU equalized her make with an and-one of its own. Both teams made three-pointers to put the score at 79-64. Bursch and Kent made jumpers to make it an 11-point game. Kent made a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 10, but the Wolves pushed back with four quick points on the other end. The two teams exchanged free throw makes, then Bremer made an and-one layup to make it 87-76 with 3:34 left in the fourth quarter. Northern State's lead was cut to single digits on a jumper from Gadient. After the Wolves made good at the free throw line to put NSU back up by 11. Gadient made it a 10-point game with a layup but Northern State pulled away and won 93-82 to end the Mavericks' winning streak.
 
Minnesota State shot 31-74 from the field (41.9% FG), 8-18 from beyond the arc (44.4% 3P) and 12-20 from the charity stripe (60% FT) in its first loss of 2025.
 
Bursch led the way for the Mavericks with 27 points on 11-21 shooting. She also had eight rebounds, three assists and two steals before fouling out. Before she also fouled out, Bremer tallied 15 points, four boards and three assists.
 
NSU ended up shooting 32-60 from the floor (53.3% FG), 9-18 (50% 3P) and 20-24 from the free throw line (83.3% FT) in the upset win. Jewett led the team with 28 points and 10 rebounds in 37 minutes of action. Fillipi scored 21 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out seven assists in the win.
 
Minnesota State is back in action next week, as the team takes on Concordia-St. Paul (17-2, 11-2 NSIC) on the road on Thursday, January 30 at 7:30 p.m. Two days later, on February 1, the Mavericks host Winona State (8-11, 4-9 NSIC) in the Taylor Center at 3 p.m.