MANKATO, Minn. – No. 25 Minnesota State (20-5, 16-3 NSIC) toppled the Minot State Beavers (8-18, 7-12 NSIC) 92-54 at home on Friday. With back-to-back buckets in the second quarter, Natalie Bremer reached 1,500 career points in a Maverick jersey and moved into eighth in all-time scoring. She ended the night with 18 points, four rebounds and five steals to lead the way for the team. The MSU win results in the team's seventh 20-win season under head coach Emilee Thiesse.
 
The Beavers opened the game with a three and the Mavericks' only point heading into the first media timeout halfway through the first quarter was a free throw made by freshman Lucy Leininger. Ava Stier made a pair of free throws out of the break to tie it up at 3-3, but a three from the Beavers' Maya Aguilar put the away team back up. Minnesota State went on a 7-0 run to put the team up 10-6 thanks to scores from Stier, Bremer and a three-point make from Adeline Kent to cap it off. Aguilar made another three for the Beavers, then Bremer and Elisabeth Gadient two-pointers before Katie Aberle made it a 14-12 game headed into the second quarter with a make from deep.
 
The Beavers took the lead after a made free throw and a layup from Jessica Mogen, but Bremer muscled in her own shot inside to give Minnesota State the lead back. She hit a three after a Minot State turnover, then junior guard Mackenzie Schweim hit one of her own to put Minnesota State up by five. A steal from Rhyan Holmgren turned into another Bremer bucket, then Holmgren made a shot of her own inside. Destinee Bursch subbed back into the game and immediately hit a three on the wing for her first make of the evening to put MSU up by 10. She found Leininger after she stole the ball for an easy look inside to cap off a 12-2 run from the Mavericks. Emma Mogen made her third bucket of the game but Bursch found Kent inside for an easy layup on the other end to give Minnesota State a 33-21 lead with 3:54 left in the first half.
 
With her second three-point make, Bremer became the ninth Maverick to reach 1,500 career points and with another jumper from the top of the key passed Heather Johnson for the eighth-most points in program history. That make from beyond the arc from the star junior kicked off an 11-3 run which also saw scores from Hannah Herzig, Gadient and Shantell Harden and three Maverick steals. After the hot stretch, Minnesota State led 44-26 with 1:23 left to play in the half. At the end of the second quarter, MSU led 44-29.
 
The Mavericks made 45% of their shot attempts in the first half with five three-point makes. The team outrebounded Minot State 25-14 through the opening two quarters and scored seven points off second chances. MSU also forced 16 first-half turnovers from the Beavers and turned those takeaways into 19 points.
 
Bremer ended the first half with 16 points on 7-14 shooting. She had four steals and two assists in the first 20 minutes as well. Kent scored five points off the bench and Gadient and Stier each scored four a-piece.
 
Minot State shot 37.5% from the floor in the first half and also made five three-pointers. Aguilar led the Beavers with eight points after two quarters of action.
 
After two minutes of scoreless play to start the second half, Herzig made her second jumper of the game from the left baseline. Then Bremer grabbed a steal off the inbound and the team grabbed two offensive rebounds before Schweim put it up for two. Herzig made her first three of the game to put the Mavericks up by 22 with 6:51 left in the third. Bursch made it nine unanswered points to start the second half with a nice finish inside then she made another tough shot in the lane to extend the MSU run to 11-0. Aguilar put the Beavers on the board in the second half with a two-point jumper. Leininger made a pair of free throws at the line then scored a layup in transition after Herzig stole the ball away. Herzig dished out her third assist of the game to Kent for a layup inside, but J. Mogen responded with a quick three on the other end. Leininger made a nice pass across the lane to find Holmgren open for a layup. Herzig stole the ball off an inbound and put it up for two more. After Bursch subbed back in, she drove baseline and found Schweim in the corner for her second three of the game. The Beavers scored on the other end to send it to the fourth quarter with a 68-39 score.
 
Bursch stole the ball on Minot State's opening possession of the fourth then got fouled on a shot attempt and made both free throws to extend the Maverick lead. She found Bremer on an inbound for her first basket of the second half, then Herzig turned a Harden steal into points with a layup that put MSU up 74-39. She grabbed a defensive rebound, drove it up the court and found Stier on the block for an easy look inside, but the Beavers responded with a make of their own that kicked off a 6-0 run for Minot State before Lilly Nuytten got on the board with a two-point jumper.
 
Freshman guard Hannah Leverson made a nice skip pass to Harden for two, then Gadient stole the ball away and put it up for two more to extend the Maverick lead. The Beavers hit a three, but junior post Delaynie Luneckas made a layup on the other end after a nice move inside. Minnesota State closed out the game by a score of 92-54 when it was all said and done.
 
The Mavericks shot 42.9% from the field (36-84 FG), made eight three-pointers in 26 attempts (30.8% 3P) and made 12-20 from the charity stripe (60% FT). The team outrebounded Minot State 51-33 and had 23 offensive rebounds which resulted in 13 second-chance points scored by the home team. Minnesota State scored 41 points from the 35 Beaver turnovers, outscored them 44-20 in the paint and had 40 points scored by bench players. The Mavericks also took advantage of the fast break, scoring 27 points in transition while Minot State scored none in that phase of the game.
 
Bremer led the way with 18 points on 8-16 field goal shooting. She also ended the game with four rebounds, two assists and five steals, good for second on the squad. Herzig was the only other double-digit scorer as she ended with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Bursch scored nine points, dished out six assists and had four steals. Both Schweim and Gadient tallied eight points in the win. Leininger and Kent scored seven points each. Stier scored six points and led the way with eight rebounds. Harden led the Mavericks in steals with six off the bench.
 
Minot State shot 37.8% from the field (17-45 FG) in the loss. The Beavers really struggled to get anything going in the second half until the later moments of the game. Aguilar led the team with 10 points.
 
Minnesota State closes out its home-court advantage for the 2024-25 regular season tomorrow, Saturday, February 15 at 5:30 p.m. On Senior Day, the Mavericks will take on UMary (14-9, 11-8 NSIC), who MSU defeated to open up the 2025 calendar year, 69-63.