BETHANY, OKLA. — Another fast start and another victory for the Minnesota State women’s basketball team.
The Mavericks led 15-5 after five minutes and never trailed in a 78-66 victory over third-seeded Fort Hays State in the semifinals of the NCAA II Central Region tournament Saturday.
“We have such great senior leadership, and we have a lot of experience in our starting lineup,” Minnesota State coach Emilee Thiesse said. “They’re helping us to build a nice cushion.”
The Mavericks led 24-19 after one quarter and 41-31 at halftime. The lead grew to 17 to start the fourth quarter and never got closer than eight.
Destinee Bursch led Minnesota State with 19 points and six assists, and Natalie Bremer had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Joey Batt scored 14 points to go with five steals, and Emily Herzberg scored 14 points.
The Mavericks had 24 turnovers and made only 3 of 15 from 3-point range, but they caused 35 turnovers, 18 of which came on steals.
“I thought we rattled Fort Hays,” Thiesse said. “Traditionally, they’ve handled our press pretty well, but we took them out of their flow. Offensively, we didn’t play as well as we could have, but we relied on our defense.”
The Mavericks (28-5) will play Harding or Southern Nazarene in the championship game Monday.
“It’s been fun because we’ve been doing it in a lot of different ways,” Thiesse said. “It’s been fun because we’ve had a lot of different players stepping up. It’s fun because we’ve stayed true to what we do. I’m so proud of this group.”