MINOT, N.D. – No. 10 Minnesota State (13-2, 9-0 NSIC) defeated the Beavers of Minot State (4-11, 3-5 NSIC) 95-78 on their home court Saturday afternoon. With the win, Minnesota State remains undefeated against NSIC opponents and maintains the top spot in the conference. Minot State held a three-point lead at half, but a 60-point second half helped the Mavericks overcome the deficit. Four MSU players reached double figures, including junior guard Natalie Bremer, who had 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals in the win. Three other Mavericks scored career-highs in the game against the Beavers.
 
Minot State hit the first shot of the game, a three-pointer from Emma Mogen. Bremer hit a jumper in transition to get the Mavericks on the board, but the Beavers broke the MSU press and made a layup inside to make it a three-point game again. The Beavers made it a 7-2 game on a layup. After two made free throws from Mackenzie Schweim, Maya Aguilar for the Beavers sunk a three to make it a 10-4 game, which forced a Minnesota State timeout. Jessica Mogen made the third three-pointer of the quarter to give the Beavers a nine-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the quarter. Freshmen Elizabeth Gadient and Mallory Czinano cut it to a three-point game, as Gadient made two shots and Czinano made both shots at the charity stripe after a foul. The Minot State lead was cut to one with a Czinano collected a deflection and sunk a short corner two, 13-12. Following a pair of makes at the free throw line for the home team, Minnesota State took its first lead of the game after a nice layup inside from freshman Rhyan Holmgren and another from Czinano after a steal. The Beavers took the lead back on a trio of free throws, but Hannah Leverson swung momentum back into the favor of the Mavericks with a three-pointer. Gadient made a jumper to put MSU up 21-18. Minot State took the lead back with an open three-pointer. When the clock hit zeroes on the first quarter, the home team held a 24-21 lead over Minnesota State.
 
Bremer made two shots from the free throw line to kick off the second quarter, which made it a one-point game. The Mavericks took the lead, 25-24, as Destinee Bursch found a wide-open Bremer under the basket for an easy lay-in. Emma Mogen made a fastbreak layup to give Minot State the lead but couldn't convert the three-point play after she got fouled, which kept it a one-point game. Schweim grabbed her own rebound off a miss inside and put it back up for a layup for another lead change. Emma Mogen got fouled on another layup and this time converted the and-one opportunity to give the home team a 29-27 lead. After two more free throws and a layup from Jessica Mogen, the Beavers led by five. Holmgren made a couple of free throws to cut it to a three-point game, but Minot State made its fifth three-pointer of the half, extending its lead to six. Natalie Holte made her second three of the quarter to put the Beavers up 38-31. Schweim connected with Lilly Nuytten for an assisted bucket to cut the deficit to five. Bremer made a couple of free throws right at the close of the period to make it a 38-35 game headed into halftime.
 
Minnesota State shot just 29.7% from the field in the first half, compared to the Beavers' 41.4% shooting performance in the first half, which included six three-point makes from Minot State. The Beavers also outrebounded the Mavericks 25-21. The home team matched Minnesota State's energy, as the Beavers ended the first half with 11 fast break points.
 
Bremer ended the first half with eight points to lead the team. Czinano had six points in the first half along with four rebounds. Holmgren also had six points as she made all four of her free throw attempts.
 
For Minot State, Emma Mogen ended up with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block in the first 20 minutes of action. Aguilar ended the half with six points, five rebounds, an assist and two steals.
 
Bursch got on the board with a layup to start the first half, which cut the Maverick deficit to one. A made jumper from Gadient gave Minnesota State the lead, the ninth lead change of the game. A one-point lead turned to three after a made turn-around jumper from Bursch in the paint made it 41-38. She made a similar shot after a Minot State turnover, but the Beavers made a layup for their first score of the second half. Bremer reached double-digits on a pair of made free throws after a hard foul on her way to the rim and made two more to give the Mavericks a seven-point lead. Aguilar immediately sunk a jumper from three-point range on the other end to cut into the MSU lead. Minot State had two scores which made it a one-possession game, but layups from Bremer and Leininger extended the Minnesota State lead to 55-47. Adeline Kent made her first bucket of the game, as she scooped in a layup to extend the Maverick lead to double digits, which forced a timeout call from the home bench. Minot State went on a 7-2 run out of the timeout, capped off by another three from Aguilar, but Kent made a layup to keep it a seven-point game. Both teams exchanged layups, then Kent made a jumper from deep to give the Mavericks a 10-point lead with 1:31 left in the quarter. Schweim made a three with 20 seconds left in the quarter to give Minnesota State a 13-point lead, but Aguilar made a layup to make it a 71-60 game through three quarters. The Mavericks outscored the Beavers 36-22 in the quarter, as the team scored more in those 10 minutes than they had in the previous 20.
 
Two free throws from Bursch kicked off the fourth quarter, and the Beavers scored on the other end. Bremer made her first basket of the fourth with a jumper, but Emma Mogen matched it with one of her own. Bursch reached double digits on a floater from the right block to give Minnesota State a 79-66 lead. She made two more layups to give her team a 14-point advantage with 4:25 remaining. Czinano made a layup after grabbing her miss to give herself a new career-high with eight points on the day. Kent hit a three to reach double digits for the first time in her Maverick career, which gave Minnesota State an 88-71 lead. Holmgren made an and-one layup to reach a new career-best in scoring, as well. When it was all said and done, the Mavericks won 95-78, their fifth-best scoring effort of the season.
 
Minnesota State ended up shooting 47.8% from the field (33-69 FG), including four made three-pointers (26.4% 3P). The team shot 25-31 from the free throw line (80.6% FT). The Mavericks finished the game with 12 more rebounds than the Beavers. The bench was huge for the team, as bench players scored 45 points in the win. MSU also dominated the paint, outscoring the home team 44-28 inside.
 
Four Mavericks reached double figures in the 17-point win. Bremer led the team with 18 points and seven rebounds on 5-10 shooting. She made all eight of her free throw attempts. Bursch scored 14 points on just eight shots in the game, making six of them. Holmgren tallied 11 points, three rebounds, a block and two steals. Kent had 10 points, all in the second half, three rebounds and a steal. Freshmen teammates Gadient and Leininger ended with nine points. Leininger played especially well on defense, as she finished the game with four rebounds, two blocks and three steals. Czinano also had eight points and seven rebounds for the team off the bench, both new records for the freshman.
 
The Beavers made 45.8% of their shot attempts against MSU, including 10 three-pointers. Aguilar led all scorers with 23 points, as she shot 8-12 from the floor and 4-6 from deep. She also had six rebounds and two steals. Emma Mogen had 16 points, three rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal in the loss. Sydney Gustavsson also had 15 points and led the team with seven rebounds and three takeaways.
 
"We had a much better response in the second half and found a way to grind out a win on the road," said Minnesota State head coach, Emilee Thiesse. "We're pleased to have started the new year with two road wins, but know we need to be mroe than a 'second half' team as we head into next week's conference games." 

Minnesota State will play its next four games at home after the road trip out west. The Mavericks play Bemidji State (3-8, 1-6 NSIC) in their next game on January 10 at 5:30 p.m. The following day, at 3:30 p.m., MSU will host Minnesota Crookston (5-9, 3-5 NSIC), who has the NSIC's leading scorer this season, Emma Miller, who is averaging 21.6 points per contest.