ST. CLOUD, Minn. – In her 250^th win as head coach of Minnesota State, Emilee Thiesse's Mavericks forced 35 turnovers in a 96-61 victory on the road against the Huskies. The Mavericks (22-5, 18-3 NSIC) held St. Cloud State (13-13, 10-11 NSIC) to just 10 points in the second quarter in a strong performance late in the season.
 
Minnesota State's stars showed out in St. Cloud. Destinee Bursch led all scorers with 27 points on 12-17 to go along with five boards, four assists and four steals. Natalie Bremer ended the game with 22 points on 9-14 shooting with four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
 
Bursch dished Bremer a behind-the-back pass for the first bucket of the game after the senior guard grabbed a steal immediately following the tip. The Huskies quickly tied the game up with a layup on the other end and the home team took a two-point lead with another shot inside. Bursch tied the game back up with a pull-up jumper, then Bremer gave the Mavericks a five-point advantage off a pair of buckets, including an and-one layup to cap off a 7-0 run for Minnesota State. Bursch sunk the first three-pointer of the ball game to put MSU up 12-4, then a pair of Maverick steals led to easy buckets for Hannah Herzig and Bremer to put the team up by 12 on a 14-0 run. Jada Eggebrecht ended the drought with a jumper from deep, then the Huskies scored another to cut the deficit to seven before Mackenzie Schweim made a layup off an assist from Bursch with 2:50 left in the quarter. Ava Stier made a shot inside to give Minnesota State a 10-point lead. The Mavericks ended the quarter with some free throws as the team entered the second quarter up 22-13.
 
Free throws made for both teams opened the second before Bursch made a layup with 8:47 in the half, 25-15. St. Cloud State cut the Maverick lead to six but Bursch responded with another make inside, which kicked off a 16-2 run for Minnesota State over the next four and a half minutes. During the run, the team went 7-8 from the field with four steals and seven different Mavericks scored. When the run ended on a pair of Husky free throws, MSU led 41-23. Bursch ended the quarter by making a layup, dishing out her fourth assist of the half to Elisabeth Gadient and capped it off with a layup with three seconds left. Minnesota State led 48-23 at halftime in St. Cloud.
 
The Mavericks shot 52.6% from the field in the first half and had two three-point makes. The team dominated both possession and the interior through the first two quarters. MSU outscored St. Cloud State 36-12 in the paint and forced 20 turnovers and quickly traded those for 23 points.
 
Bursch was outstanding in the first half with 14 points, four assists and three steals. Bremer had 11 points with three rebounds. Schweim contributed seven points in the first 20 minutes and Herzig had four steals and two assists on top of her four tallies on the scoreboard.
 
Bremer found Bursch for the first bucket of the second half 10 seconds in. The Huskies got on the board in the second half, then Bursch and Bremer combined for three layups to force a timeout from the home bench 56-25 with 6:51 left in the third. Bremer scored out of the break before Rachel Kottke hit a three for her first basket of the game. Gadient grabbed an offensive board and put it back up for two before Schweim stole it and found Bremer to give her 18 points on the night and Minnesota State a 63-28 lead. Both teams traded three-point makes back and forth, then Leininger made a basket inside before another Husky three fell through the hoop. After Eggebrecht made a three, Bremer responded with one of her own then found Bursch for a layup to put the Mavericks up by 34. When the third quarter ended, Minnesota State led 78-45.
 
Minnesota State kicked off the final quarter with a 6-0 run. Lilly Nuytten and Adeline Kent went on an 8-0 run of their own before St. Cloud State made its sixth three of the game. Despite the Huskies ending the game on a 9-2 run, Minnesota State won in dominant fashion, 96-61.
 
The Mavericks shot 53.3% from the field (40-75 FG), 35.7% from deep (35.7% 3P) and 11-25 from the charity stripe (11-25 FT). 24 Maverick makes were off an assist and bench players scored 27 points in the game. Defensively, the team forced 35 turnovers, 26 steals and 47 points off takeaways. Additionally, Minnesota State's defense held St. Cloud State to 31.3% shooting from the floor. MSU also dominated down low, with 68 points in the paint.
 
Bursch led the way with 27 points on 12-17 shooting. She grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists and also had four steals. Bremer scored 22 points while shooting 9-14 from the floor. She had four boards, four assists and two steals. Schweim scored 10 points with a pair of three-point makes to go along with her four steals. Herzig led the team with five steals and had four points, four assists and four rebounds. Gadient ended with eight points and three assists off the bench.
 
Junior guard Eggebrecht led the way with 12 points, five boards, three assists, one block and one steal. Kylan Gerands had 10 points and eight rebounds for SCSU.
 
"I'm very proud of our team's resiliency tonight," said Coach Thiesse following the win. "I thought we made necessary adjustments throughout the game on both ends of the floor. We had great contributions from our entire roster and leaning on our depth at this point in the season is so important for us."
 
The Mavericks hop on the bus as they travel to Moorhead, Minn. for a battle against the Dragons (12-15, 10-11 NSIC), who lost their game Friday night. Minnesota State has defeated MSU Moorhead in 13 of the last 17 matchups against the Dragons, including a 94-66 win in January.