Box Score MANKATO, Minn. – No. 21 Minnesota State (19-4, 15-2 NSIC) dominated the Wayne State Wildcats (10-11, 7-10 NSIC) 96-56 at home Thursday night. With the win, Mavericks head coach Emilee Thiesse became the all-time winningest head coach in Minnesota State women's basketball history, securing her 247^th career win.
 
Star guards Natalie Bremer and Destinee Bursch led the way for the Mavericks, as the two combined for 43 points in the blow-out victory. Minnesota State is undefeated in the Taylor Center this season with 10 wins.
 
Bursch kicked off the game with a three-pointer, then Hannah Herzig scored back-to-back baskets off a pair of Wildcat turnovers to put the Mavericks up 7-0 early. After Maya Fitzpatrick got WSC on the board with a three-pointer, Bremer hit one of her own on the other end off an assist from Mackenzie Schweim. Schweim scored a layup and then found Bremer for another three in the corner to put MSU up 15-3 with 6:10 to play in the opening period. After Wayne State's Delaney Clark sunk another three for the away team, Lilly Nuytten nailed a turnaround jumper to keep Minnesota State up double digits. Bremer made her third shot of the game and after another three from the Wildcats, Bursch made a two-point jumper of her own to put the Mavericks up 11. Clark made her second three of the game, blocked a shot on defense to prevent the home team from scoring and made another shot from deep to cut the MSU lead to seven. Bursch made four free throws, but Clark made her fourth three of the game to send the game to quarter two, 27-19.
 
Bremer scored the first bucket of the second quarter, a layup off an assist from Bursch. After Kylah vanDonkersgoed made her first basket of the game, Bursch connected on another jumper from three-point range to put her team up 32-21. Freshman Elisabeth Gadient made her first bucket off an offensive rebound to put the home team up by 12. The Wildcats scored five-straight after a pair of free throws and a Fitzpatrick three-pointer to cut the MSU lead to seven with 5:33 left in the half. Gadient ended the run with a three-pointer to kick the advantage back up to 10 and fellow freshman Rhyan Holmgren made an up-and-under layup to keep it a double-digit lead after a Wildcat score. She made another shot the next time down, then Bremer made a jumper and Schweim closed out the half with a three-pointer to send both teams into halftime on a 9-0 run to put MSU up 46-29 after 20 minutes of action.
 
Minnesota State shot 47.2% from the field as a team in the first half and made 6-13 from beyond the arc. The Mavericks dominated the paint, as they outscored WSC 16-4 down low in the first half. The home team outrebounded the Wildcats 29-11 in the first two quarters, also, which included 11 offensive boards.
 
Bremer ended the first half with 14 points on 5-8 shooting with two three-point makes. She also grabbed three rebounds and had a steal. Bursch scored 12 points in the first half on 3-4 shooting. She dished out two assists and had one steal. Both Gadient and Schweim tallied five points each in the first 20 minutes of action.
 
The Wildcats shot 31% from the field in the first half but shot 50% from deep. Clark was the leading scorer after two quarters with all 12 of her points coming in the first quarter.
 
Bursch grabbed her own miss then found Ava Stier in the lane for her first bucket of the night to get the scoring started in the second half. A few possessions later, Bursch drove inside, stopped on a dime and made a reverse and-one layup to put Minnesota State up 51-29. On defense, Bremer stole the ball, passed it up to Bursch, who found Stier for an easy layup with a behind-the-back pass to give the Mavericks a 24-point lead. Schweim made a layup off an offensive board to extend the MSU scoring run to 9-0 to start the third quarter. The Wildcats ended the run with a couple of free throw conversions. Wayne State made a three in the corner, but Bremer made a jumper of her own on the other end to put MSU up 57-36 with 2:50 left in the quarter. Fitzpatrick made an and-one layup after she pushed the pace in transition for WSC. After Fitzpatrick made two more shots at the charity stripe, Bursch drove into the lane and spun around on her pivot foot to make room for an easy layup. Herzig made a reverse layup a few possessions later to put the team up by 20. Stier and Bursch closed the third with a pair of layups to give Minnesota State a 67-45 lead with a quarter left to play.
 
Bursch stole the ball off a Wildcat inbound and found Bremer down low for a layup that gave her 20 points on the evening. Fitzpatrick scored the next basket of the quarter with a floater in the lane. Gadient made her third basket of the game, but WSC responded with a three on the defensive end. Bursch surpassed 20 points with a jumper from the elbow to put Minnesota State up 73-50. She found Bremer with a beautiful pass across the Wildcat defense for an easy look inside. Gadient sunk her second three of the game with a shot from the wing, then freshman teammate Lucy Leininger made her first layup of the game to put the team up by 30. Shantell Harden and Leininger scored two layups in quick succession, then Nuytten sunk a two-point jumper to put the home team up 86-52 with 4:47 left to play. Minnesota State closed out the game on a 10-4 run to earn a 96-56 victory over Wayne State at home.
 
MSU shot 44.3% from the field (39-88 FG), 36.8% from deep (7-19 3P) and 78.6% from the charity stripe (11-14 FT). The Mavericks dominated the glass, as the team outrebounded WSC 60-30 and grabbed 27 offensive rebounds en route to a 40-point win. MSU also forced 24 Wildcat turnovers and turned those takeaways into 28 points the other way. The team dominated the paint, outscoring Wayne State 52-10 down low.
 
Bremer led all scorers with 22 points on 8-15 shooting. She also grabbed seven rebounds and had three steals and no turnovers. Bursch was right behind her with 21 points on 7-10 shooting. The senior guard dished out six assists, grabbed two steals and three boards. Gadient scored 10 points off the bench and led the team with five steals. Schweim scored seven points, and Herzig, Nuytten and Stier each finished the game with six points scored. Stier led the team with nine rebounds.
 
Wayne State shot 30% from the field (15-50 FG), 40.9% from three (9-22 3P) and 63% from the line (17-27 FT). Despite five blocked shots on defense, the Wildcats seemingly couldn't stop the Maverick onslaught. Clark led the team with 14 points, held to only one score in the second half.
 
Minnesota State is back on the road for its next game, as the Mavericks travel to Sioux Falls, S.D. to take on the Cougars of USF (13-11, 9-8 NSIC). The last time these two teams faced off, MSU narrowly escaped with a 91-88 win at home, as Sioux Falls led a powerful comeback in the second half.