Women’s hoops hot and cold
Minnesota State Women’s Basketball’s tiring road game stretch showed as they finished the second week of games 1-1. Friday’s game ended in a loss for the Mavs when they played the now 11-8 Northern St. Wolves, while Saturday’s game was a close call versus the 9-9 MSU Moorhead Dragons.
The Wolves showed they were hungrier as the pack was able to finish out the nail-biter with their 11th victory under their belt. The first quarter ended uneventfully as the Wolves were up by nine with a score of 19-10. At the 3:18 mark in the second quarter, NSU continued to show their dominance as they went up by 13 at 31-18.
Natalie Bremer gave Mankato the boost they needed before the half and recorded 10 points as the Mavs went on a 15-4 run. This cut down NSU’s lead to 35-33 at half.
Coming out of the half, junior, Emily Herzberg, continued the momentum the Mavs ended the half with and hit a three-pointer to start the quarter. This gave Mankato their first lead of the game, which they held until the end of the third. This momentum continued to be led by Bremer as she put up 10 of MSU’s 19 points.
The fourth quarter started with a tight score of 52-51. The Wolves found a couple of baskets to start the last quarter of regulation. The Mavs only found themselves in the lead one more time throughout the game when Joey Batt hit a clutch layup at the five minute mark. The lead diminished once again and this time, the Wolves kept it.
The game ended 72-69, with Northern St. on top. The pack of Wolves outrebounded the Mavs by 19 and exposed them by shooting 42.6% from the field to MSU’s 29.9%.
The Mavs looked to recuperate against MSU Moorehead Saturday, a team that had already beaten Northern State 60-53, despite the .500 record. The 5:30 tipoff started strong as they scored 10 points to the Dragon’s two, right from the start; six came from Herzberg.
MSU, Mankato couldn’t hold them back for long as the Dragons found themselves on a 21-9 run to take the lead at the end of the first quarter. The Dragons built a lead of 11 points throughout the second quarter, but the Mavs were able to find their footing. They slowly chipped away at the score and were able to come within seven to finish the half with a score of 48-41.
Mankato could not keep up with the momentum that the Dragons produced, as they had 25 rebounds, shot a skillful 60% from the field and let their star senior center, Peyton Boom, put up 17 points. The Mavs were letting their mistakes from Friday’s game happen again Saturday.
The Mavs continued to chip slowly but surely throughout the third quarter, until they made a breakthrough happen. At the seven-minute mark they were down by four points with the score at 52-48. Then, they went on a 17-8 run to end the quarter strong. Nine of these points came from Destinee Bursch. The quarter ended with the Mavs up 65-60 as they doubled MSU Moorehead’s points 24-12.
MSU, Mankato’s defense finally clicked as they learned from their recent mistakes. The final score was 77-70 Mavericks.
Bursch was able to notch 19 points, while Herzberg recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. With Boom putting up 17 in the first half, they held her to only seven in the second, giving her 24 points and 12 rebounds. Despite the Dragons shooting 45%, the Mavs were able to walk away with a win due to 21 turnovers and 14 points created from them.
Write to Luke Jackson at Luke.Jackson2@mnsu.edu
Header photo: MSU Women’s Basketball team secures the win against MSU Moorhead Saturday, Jan. 21 with a 77-70 score. (Dylan Engel)