Women’s hoops now 16-5 overall

The Minnesota State women’s basketball team traveled west for their two games this past weekend, taking on Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls. First up was SMSU for the Mavericks, where they traveled to Marshall to take on the Mustangs.

The Mavs began the first quarter of play with a 18-15 lead going into the second, but a disappointing second quarter left MSU scrambling to regain the lead for the remainder of the game. Minnesota State scored one point to SMSU’s 17 in the second, which resulted from a 15-0 scoring run from the Mustangs.

Maverick’s senior forward Rylee Menster sank the lone Mav point from the free throw line to slow down the damage but left the Mavs down 32-19 going into the half. 

The Mustangs continued their offensive attack in the beginning of the third quarter, going on another impressive run to take a 19-point lead. The Mavs began to dwindle down the lead but remained down 16 points going into the final quarter of play.

MSU could not stop SMSU from scoring and could not score anything of their own, giving way for the Mustangs to go on yet another run to extend their lead to 23. A 7-0 run of their own was not enough to salvage a win, however, as the Mavs dropped the match 63-46.

Minnesota State shot 23.2 percent from the field while shooting only 17.6 percent from three. It was a rough game for the team, who would look to bounce back the next day in Sioux Falls against the Cougars.

It would prove to be the perfect bounce back game for the Mavericks, who completely turned around their offense against Sioux Falls. A 19-point first quarter kicked off the Mavs’ scoring, which only went up from there. 

MSU brought a 39-30 lead into the half, while shooting 50 percent from the field. A dominant third quarter, which began on a 14-6 scoring run, helped the Mavericks extend their lead to 17 before eventually bringing a 62-43 lead into the final quarter of play. 

The fourth brought tons of scoring from both sides of the ball but the Mavs outscored the Cougars by a slim one point leading to the Mavericks’ 86-66 victory. MSU had four double-digit point getters in the game, coming from senior Maddy Olson, sophomore Joey Batt, senior Mikayla Nachazel, and freshman Destinee Bursch.

The four Mavs combined for 59 of the team’s points. With the weekend split the Mavericks now move to 16-5 overall and 12-5 in the NSIC. 

MSU remains third in the conference despite the weekend split, with Bemidji State and Concordia-St. Paul following closely behind in the fourth and fifth spots. St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth remain atop the standings, both with conference records of 16-2. 

Next up for the team is a weekend series against Wayne State and Augustana on the Mavericks’ home court in Mankato.