SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Maverick women's basketball (23-6, 18-4 NSIC) advanced to the NSIC Tournament Semifinal with a dominant 90-66 win over UMary (16-12, 12-10 NSIC) in the Sanford Pentagon Sunday afternoon. The Mavericks jumped out to a 32-18 lead after the first quarter and the team never looked back. Minnesota State had five players reach double figures and the team forced 31 turnovers in the win.
 
Junior guard Natalie Bremer led the way for Minnesota State with 16 points, five boards, three assists, a block and a steal. Starting post Ava Stier scored 14 points on 6-8 shooting. Freshmen Rhyan Holmgren and Elisabeth Gadient played great in their first NSIC Tournament game. Holmgren scored a career-high 14 points off the bench and Gadient ended with 10 points, five assists and six steals, one off the NSIC Tournament single-game record.
 
The Marauders won the tip but turned it over on the first possession. Hannah Herzig found Ava Stier leaking to the top of the key for an easy three that gave the Mavericks an early lead. UMary tied the ball game with a wide-open three in the corner, but freshman Elisabeth Gadient made a nice step-through layup to put the Mavericks up by two. Another Marauder turnover led to Bremer finding Stier under the rim for an easy layup. Bremer made a layup after a huge block at the hoop on the other end to force a timeout call from the UMary bench.
 
An errant pass out of the break gave Minnesota State the ball back, which led to Herzig slicing through the defense for an easy basket inside to put the Mavericks up 11-3. Freshman Lucy Leininger intercepted an inbound pass and found Herzig for another layup. UMary made some shots to cut it to a four-point game. A nice pass from Gadient opened up Mackenzie Schweim for a three, which put MSU up by seven. The Mavericks ran a play to get Stier open on the wing, which allowed her to drive right to the rim for her third basket.
 
Stier and Gadient went on a quick 6-0 run on their own to force another Marauder timeout with 1:21 left to play in the opening quarter. Bremer jumped over everyone to grab an offensive rebound and immediately put it back up for two, which gave the Mavericks a 32-18 lead headed into quarter two.
 
First-Team All-NSIC player Bergen Kinnebrew hit a three to kick off the second quarter. Rhyan Holmgren grabbed an offensive board and put it back up for two following a nice steal from Gadient, who drew a charge the next time down on defense. After a pair of Marauder free throws, Bremer drove in for another layup to keep a 13-point lead for MSU. Holmgren made an and-one layup off a nice entry pass from Gadient.
 
After some back-and-forth, Schweim made a nice pass to Stier in the short corner for an easy jumper. Herzig connected on a jumper after drawing a charge on defense. Holmgren sunk a pair of shots at the free throw line after a scoreless two and a half minutes to put Minnesota State up by 18. Gadient found Bremer on the baseline through the Marauder zone for another easy jumper. Schweim hit a three with nine seconds left to give MSU a 50-30 lead headed into the locker room for halftime.
 
The Mavericks made 46.3% of their field goals in the first half, three threes and made 9-10 from the charity stripe. The team forced 19 Marauder turnovers and scored 27 points from those takeaways. MSU also dominated the paint, outscoring UMary 30-12 down low.
 
Stier led all players with 11 first half points. She grabbed two boards and three steals through two quarters. Bremer ended the half with 10 points, four boards, three assists and a block. Holmgren ended the half with nine points while shooting a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. Gadient was all over the place in the first half, as the freshman guard ended with eight points, four steals, a block and two assists.
 
UMary made 38.1% of its shots in the first half. Senior forward Moriku Hakim scored 10 points and grabbed four boards in the first. Kinnebrew had seven points in the first half. She shot 1-4 from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
 
Schweim jumped a passing lane for a steal at midcourt then passed it off to Herzig who shimmied off a defender down low enough to get a shot off for the first points of the second half. Gadient made a floater in the paint for her first bucket of the second half, then Herzig stole the ball away on defense and drove it all the way down the court for another layup. UMary got on the board in the third with a three from the wing. Gadient found a cutting Leininger after some nice ball movement on offense for her first basket.
 
After a media timeout, the Marauders scored their second basket of the half. Adeline Kent stole the ball away from the UMary attack and pulled up for two to give MSU a 62-35 lead with 4:41 left to play in the third. Herzig threw a heater inside to Bremer, who put it up for two to reach 14 points on the afternoon. Kinnebrew made her second basket of the game with a floater, then a Schweim three bounced around the rim three times before dropping to give the Mavericks a 30-point lead. Stier made a tough layup inside before Chloe Pfau made her second three of the quarter. Gadient stole the ball on defense, passed it up to Shantell Harden, who tapped it right to Bremer for a layup, then Kent found Leininger inside for a basket that gave Minnesota State a 74-44 lead headed into the final quarter.
 
Both teams traded layups to begin the fourth, then the Marauders made a pair of jumpers before Holmgren laid the ball up for two on the other end for Minnesota State. She reached 14 points on a jumper, a new career-high for the freshman guard. Emily Dreckman made a two-point jumper from the corner to put MSU up 85-58 with 4:21 left to play. Holmgren found Delaynie Luneckas for two, then Hannah Leverson made a pull-up three from the wing. When it was all said and done, Minnesota State took down UMary 90-66.
 
The Mavericks ended with a 46.7% field goal percentage from the field (35-75 FG), 26.3% from deep (5-19 3P) and 83.3% from the free throw line (15-18 FT). The Mavericks scored 40 points off 31 Marauder turnovers as the team totaled 22 steals in the game. The team outrebounded UMary by two and dished out 18 assists.
 
Bremer led the way with 16 points on 6-15 shooting from the field. She grabbed five boards, dished out three dimes and ended with a block and a steal defensively. Stier and Holmgren each ended with 14 points. Stier also had five rebounds and three steals and she shot 6-8 from the field. Holmgren shot 4-6 and was 6-7 from the line to set a new career-high in points. Gadient and Herzig scored 10 a-piece. Gadient ended the game with five assists, one block and six steals, one shy of the NSIC Tournament record. Herzig had four boards and two steals. Schweim scored nine points and had three steals in the win.
 
UMary made 40.8% of its shot attempts, sunk seven shots from behind the three-point line and made 70.4 of its free throws. Hakim led the team with 14 points and eight boards off the bench. Kinnebrew ended with 13 points.
 
With the win, Minnesota State advances to the semifinal round of the NSIC Tournament set for Monday, March 3 at 1:30 p.m. in the Sanford Pentagon. The Mavericks will face Southwest Minnesota State (26-3, 19-3 NSIC) for the second time this season. In the first matchup, MSU dominated the Mustangs at home, 101-83.