ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Minnesota State women's basketball team (31-5) advanced to the NCAA DII Women's Basketball National Championship with a wire-to-wire win over Cal State San Marcos (27-7) Wednesday night, 70-68. The Mavericks won on a game-winning layup from senior Emily Herzberg, assisted by Natalie Bremer, who also had a career-night, scoring 29-point and grabbing nine rebounds.

Cal State started the scoring with a jumper from Truitt Reilly in the corner. Destinee Bursch made a jumper for the Mavericks first field goal of the game. A two-point jumper from the top of the key swished through the net for Bremer to give MSU a 6-2 lead. Another made shot for the Cougars forced a Mackenzie Schweim three in response, putting the Mavericks up by five. A made jumper from the free throw line by Joey Batt put the Mavericks up 11-4 with about six minutes left in the first quarter, and a pair of free throws from her increased the lead to nine.

A steal-and-score two-pointer from Bremer put Minnesota State up double-digits for the first time in the game. CSUSM's Ava Ranson sunk a three from the corner to cut into the lead. A layup by Camille Johnson got the Cougars into double figures and another score cut the Maverick lead to four. Reilly hit a three to cut the lead to one, capping off a 9-2 run. The first quarter ended with the Mavericks up, 19-18.

Bremer drove the baseline, wiggling past her defender for the easy score to start the second quarter. Bremer made an and-one layup with 4:28 left in the half to put Minnesota State up 27-23. Bursch found Bremer cutting through the lane for an easy lay-in to put the team back up by three. CSUSM's Charity Gallegos made a layup, but Batt responded with a layup to put the Mavericks back up by three. Herzberg drove in for a layup to give the team a 34-30 lead over the Cougars. MSU would hold that four-point lead heading into the locker room.

Minnesota State shot just 37.5% from the field in the first half, making one three in seven attempts and making 9-11 from the charity stripe. The team collected more rebounds than CSUSM, 18-15. The Mavericks scored 14 points off turnovers in the first half, 10 more than their opponents.

Bremer led all scorers with 14 points in the first half. She also grabbed five boards and had a blocked shot and a steal. Batt scored eight in the first but committed her third foul with 0:49 left in the second quarter. She led the team with Herzberg ended the first half with six points, four rebounds, a block and a steal.

The Cougars shot a 57% field goal percentage, making two of their four three-point attempts, but missing half of their free throws. The team was able to find its rhythm in moments, assisting on six made baskets in the first half. CSUSM also outscored MSU by eight in the paint in the first 20 minutes. Reilly led the team with eight points through the first two quarters.

CSUSM got on the board first, after Jordan Vasquez made a layup following three offensive boards for the Cougars. Bursch made her second shot of the game to put the Mavericks back up by four and Batt made a contested jumper in the paint. Bremer sunk a pull-up three to put MSU up 41-34 with 7:26 left in the quarter. Vasquez made an and-one layup to cut the Minnesota State lead back to four.

After a three from Gallegos, Bursch sunk a fade-away jumper to match, maintaining a 45-42 lead over CSUSM. An and-one layup from Gallegos gave the Cougars the lead, 49-47. Hannah Herzig found Herzberg cutting across the paint for an easy score and a pair of free throws from Batt cut the Cougar lead to two at the end of the third quarter, CSUSM led 53-51.
That lead increased to four after a layup from Reilly. Bremer went back down the court and drove into the lane for an and-one layup. She would tie the game at 55-55 after making one free throw and Batt would give the team the lead with another. A Batt steal set up Bremer for another score, giving MSU a three-point lead with 7:35 left to play.

Cal State San Marcos would go on a 6-0 run to take the lead back, thanks to a huge three from Gallegos. She would hit another three to put the Cougars up 64-58. With 3:46 left, Minnesota State trailed by six.

Schweim, who played 20 key minutes, immediately responded with a three to swing momentum back for MSU. Herzberg sunk a two-point jumper to cut the deficit to one, forcing a Cougar timeout. The Mavericks forced a turnover, setting up Bremer for a score to take the lead, 65-64. That make for the sophomore gave her 1,000 career points; the Lake City, Minnesota native is the 26^th player in program history to reach the milestone.

The Cougars would steal back the advantage with a pair of free throws, but, once again, Bremer came up with another clutch bucket to give the Mavericks back the lead. After another pair of free throws sunk by CSUSM, Herzberg would tie the game, making one of two from the charity stripe on the other end with 0:21 to play.

With Herzig face guarding her, Ava Ranson lost her footing and in a last-ditch effort to get a shot up for her team, she kicked the ball, resulting in a turnover; Maverick possession with 0:05 remaining.

Herzberg inbounded the ball into Bremer. A double-team crashed onto the ball, allowing Herzberg to back-cut into a wide-open lane. Bremer hit her perfectly in stride and Herzberg scored the game-winning bucket, putting the Mavericks up 70-68 with 0.3 seconds on the clock, not enough time for the Cougars to get a shot up. With the win, Minnesota State advanced to the National Championship game.

Minnesota State shot 39.4% from the field (26-66 FG) in the game, making 3-17 from three (17.6% 3FG) and 15-24 from the charity stripe (62.5% FT). The team grabbed 11 fewer rebounds than the Cougars but had one more offensive rebound. The Mavericks had 14 steals and forced 27 turnovers, scoring 24 points off those lost possessions. Minnesota State has now officially forced over 1,000 turnovers this season, with 1,008 heading into the final game.

Bremer had a historic night. She scored a season-high 29 points on 13-24 shooting (54% FG), just one point shy of her career-best. She became the 26^th player in Minnesota State history to score 1,000 points in her career. Bremer also finished with nine rebounds, the most important assist of the evening, a block and two steals on the defensive end. It was her ninth 20-point game of the season.

"HER-zberg," ended with 13 points, seven boards, two assists, a block and three steals. The senior, who is averaging 10.8 points and is shooting 39% from three in postseason play, was the hero of the game.
Batt didn't have her best night offensively, scoring 13 points on 3-15 field goal shooting. Instead, she shone the brightest, as she always does, on the defensive side. Batt finished with four steals and was all over the court. The three-time NSIC Defensive Player of the Year lived up to the title.

Bursch ended with six points with two dimes and a steal. With her first score of the night, Bursch officially moved into 10^th in Mavericks all-time scoring. Schweim was huge for the Mavericks, scoring eight points on 3-4 shooting, including two threes. She had three rebounds in the game.

Cal State San Marcos shot 45.5% from the field (25-55 FG) in the game, shooting 5-13 (38.5% 3FG) from deep and 13-21 (62% FT) from the line. Gallegos led the Cougars with 20 points scored. She also had four rebounds, five assists, a steal and seven turnovers. Vasquez had 16 points and a phenomenal 20 rebounds in the loss.

In the game, there were seven ties and 11 lead changes, include six lead shifts in the final five minutes.

With the win, Minnesota State improves to 31-5, one win shy of the program single season wins record set by the 2008-09 National Championship team. That Mavericks squad went 32-2 and defeated Franklin Pierce in the highest-scoring championship final in NCAA DII history, 103-94. The last and only other time the Mavericks were in the championship game was '08-09.

This Minnesota State team will take on Texas Woman's University (34-4) in a rematch on Friday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m. at the St. Joseph Civic Arena. The Mavericks fell to the Pioneers back at the MSU Billings Tournament back in early November, 76-71.

Minnesota State now has a chance for redemption; the team has beaten every team it's fallen to this season. First, the Mavericks defeated the Bulldogs of UMD at Romano Gymnasium in Duluth and took down both Fort Hays State and Southern Nazarene in the semifinal and final rounds of the NCAA Central Region Tournament.