SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 21 Minnesota State (19-5, 15-3 NSIC) lost its third consecutive road game to Sioux Falls (14-11, 10-8 NSIC) Saturday night, 89-76. The Cougars made 13-22 from beyond the three-point line and a five-point second quarter from the Mavericks helped the home team win its 10^th conference game of the season.
 
For Minnesota State, senior guard Destinee Bursch led the way with 21 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals. Junior guard Natalie Bremer ended with 19 points for the Mavericks.
 
The Cougars jumped out to a 5-2 lead following a three-point make in response to a layup from Bursch on the other end. Bremer made a jumper to make it a one-point game, then, a minute and a half later, made another to give the Mavericks an early 7-6 lead. She made another shot after a pair of free throw makes from freshman teammate Mallory Czinano to put the Mavericks up 11-8 with 4:08 left in the opening quarter. Ayla Brown tied the game up with a three-point make which kicked off a 10-2 run as the Cougars would also sink their next two threes to give USF an 18-13 lead. Following free throw makes from both teams, Mackenzie Schweim cut the MSU deficit to two with a three-pointer with nine seconds left in the quarter. After one, Sioux Falls led 22-20.
 
It took over two minutes for either team to score in the second quarter. Kami Wadsworth made a layup for her first bucket of the game, which kicked off a four-minute 13-2 run which put the Cougars up 35-22 with 3:50 left to play in the first half. The only Maverick score in that stretch was a two-point jumper from freshman guard Elisabeth Gadient. Minnesota State shot 1-5 during the Cougar run and turned it over four times.
 
Gracie Traphagen continued the dominant quarter for USF with her second three of the game to give the Cougars a 17-point lead with 2:27 left in the half. After a timeout, Wadsworth sunk a three to extend the lead to 20. Bursch made a layup to cut into the deficit slightly, but Wadsworth nailed another shot from beyond the arc as time expired on the first half. Sioux Falls outscored Minnesota State 24-5 in the second quarter and held a 46-25 lead after one half of play.
 
The Mavericks shot just 29% from the field in the first half and shot 1-6 from three. The Cougars shot 58.3% and made 8-12 from deep. The home team also outrebounded MSU 20-15. Despite Minnesota State forcing more turnovers than Sioux Falls, the Cougars led the turnover battle with 19 points scored off takeaways compared to the Mavericks four.
 
Bremer led the team with eight points after 20 minutes of play. She was the only Maverick with more than four points scored.
 
Wadsworth led all players with 10 points at halftime. Brown ended the half with eight points and Rose scored nine points with six free throw makes. Six different players hit three-pointers in the first half and Wadsworth and Traphagen made two a-piece.
 
Bursch started the scoring in the second half with a layup but Rose quickly sunk another three for the Cougars from the wing. Schweim and Bremer each made a layup to cut into the lead and a pair of free throws from Stier and Bursch cut it to 14. After the Cougars scored on a fastbreak layup off a steal, Lucy Leininger and Schweim made back-to-back layups to take a chunk out of the USF lead. Bursch made an and-one layup off a Czinano steal to cut the lead to single digits with 5:26 left in the third quarter.
 
A pair of makes from Bremer at the charity stripe made it a seven-point game, but the Cougars responded with a three-point make on the other end to extend their lead back to double digits. That shot started a 9-0 run for USF as Danielle Minsaas and Megan Fannin each made another three to push the lead back up to 16 points, 60-44. Bursch ended the run with a pair of free throws and a layup to make it a 12-point game. After an and-one layup from Rose, Gadient made a layup off a pair of offensive boards and Bursch grabbed a steal and score to make it an 11-point game headed into the final quarter, 65-54.
 
Bremer cut it to an eight-point deficit with an and-one layup to kick off the fourth quarter. Bursch picked up her fourth foul of the game with a charge in the paint. Brown made a fastbreak layup off a Minsaas steal to make it a 67-57 game with 7:30 remaining. After Wadsworth made a pair of free throws, Hannah Herzig scored her first basket of the game to keep it a 10-point game. A Maverick turnover was quickly transferred into a layup from Rose, then the Cougars made two more shots from the charity stripes to extend the lead to 14.
 
Bremer made a basket out of a timeout in response to a make from Aby Phipps. Minsaas hit a three the next time down the floor which made it a 16-point game with 3:58 on the clock. Bursch made back-to-back layups then found Gadient for a three-pointer to cut it to 12. Gadient stole the ball away from the Cougars and scored a layup to make it a 10-point game with 2:02 remaining, which forced a timeout call from the home bench. Unfortunately for the Mavericks, free throws from Minsaas and Wadsworth iced the game, giving USF an 89-76 victory over MSU.
 
Minnesota State shot just 36.1% from the field (26-72 FG) in the loss. The team made 3-15 from beyond the arc (20% 3P) and 21-25 shots at the free throw line (84% FT). Despite grabbing 15 offensive rebounds, the Mavericks scored just 12 second chance points. The team also forced 33 turnovers with 17 steals but it just wasn't enough.
 
Bursch led the team with 21 points on 8-15 shooting, six rebounds, six assists and five steals before she earned her fifth foul. Bremer, who also fouled out, scored 19 points and ended with four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Gadient scored 12 points off the bench. Schweim ended with eight.
 
The Cougars had five players reach double figures and shot 54.2% from the field (26-48 FG) in the win. The home team made a whopping 13 three-pointers in 22 attempts (59.1% 3P) and sunk 24-30 at the charity stripe (80% FT). USF outrebounded the Mavericks 39-35. Bench players for the Cougars scored 31 points.
 
Both Brown and Wadsworth scored 16 points each. Brown ended up shooting 4-7 from the field and 7-7 from the free throw line. Wadsworth shot 5-9 from the field and made both of her three-point attempts. She grabbed five rebounds and led the team with seven assists. Rose scored 15 points with five rebounds and three assists. Minsaas scored 12 points with four rebounds, four assists and a team-high five steals. Fannin ended with 11 points on 3-3 shooting from deep.
 
"We need to respond with a much better level of focus and consistency," said Minnesota State head coach Emilee Thiesse following the loss. "We have seen great spurts of what this team is capable of when we play hard and focused. This is crunct time and we need to find a way to bring that for 40 minutes."
 
MSU is back at home for its final two home games of the 2024-25 regular season next week. On Friday, February 14, the Mavericks play Minot State (8-17, 7-11 NSIC) at 7:30 p.m. Then, on Saturday, February 15, Minnesota State hosts UMary (13-9, 10-8 NSIC) at 5:30 p.m. in the Taylor Center. Despite the loss, the Mavericks are in line to secure a first-round bye in the NSIC Tournament as the Marauders lost to MSU Moorhead on the road.