PITTSBURG, Kan. – For the second year in a row, the Minnesota State women's basketball team (25-7, 18-4 NSIC) secured a spot in the NCAA DII Central Region Tournament Semifinal game with an 87-73 win over the Griffons of Missouri Western (20-10, 14-5 MIAA) in the first round of the tournament. The win marks the third consecutive year Minnesota State has won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament, a new feat for the program.
 
Junior Natalie Bremer led the way with 18 points and with a three in the second quarter, surpassed Ali Wilkinson to move into fifth in all-time scoring. Senior guard Destinee Bursch ended with 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Another junior guard, Hannah Herzig, scored 16 points on 6-9 shooting with four steals. Herzig hit a buzzer-beater three at the end of the first half to give the Mavericks a 12-point lead headed into the locker room.
 
The Griffons struck first with a corner three on their first possession and hit another to go up 6-2 after Bursch put the Mavericks on the board with a layup after she grabbed her own miss. A nice pass from MIAA All-Conference First Team member Alyssa Bonilla led to an easy look inside and the third MWSU three-point bucket put the fourth seed up 11-4 in the early goings of the game. A steal from Adeline Kent led to a quick layup from freshman Lucy Leininger, then Bremer made her first bucket of the game, a pull-up from the top of the key, to make it a three-point game.
 
Following the first media timeout, Bremer sunk another two-point jumper, then Elisabeth Gadient scored an inside jumper off an offensive board to knot the game up at 12-12. A pair of Bonilla makes at the line put MWSU back up, but Bursch grabbed another missed Maverick shot and put it up for two over her defender on the block to maintain the tie. She made another jumper in the lane after a power dribble freed her up. The Griffons scored five-straight points, but Bursch reached double figures with a layup to keep it a one-possession game. Gadient made a fabulous play to undercut a Griffon pass, threw it up to Herzig streaking up court for an easy bucket to make it a one-point game, then Herzig stole the ball from Bonilla, dumped it off to Bursch who touch-passed it back for an easy layup to give MSU a 22-21 lead after 10 minutes of action.
 
Gadient picked up her third steal and euro-stepped through the lane to give the Mavericks a three-point lead early in the second. After 90 seconds of scoreless back-and-forth, she made a couple shots from the charity stripe to make it a 10-0 run for MSU. The Griffons ended the run with free throw makes, then Bursch found Ava Stier on an inbound play for a layup in the lane. Bremer hit a three in transition to give the Mavericks a nine-point lead; with the bucket, she passed Ali Wilkinson to move into fifth in all-time scoring in program history with 1,637 points.
 
Out of a timeout, the Griffons went on a 7- 2 run to cut the Maverick lead to four with five minutes left in the first half. Bursch found Herzig in the corner for two, then Shantell Harden stole the ball at the top of the key and threw it up to Bremer for a wide-open fastbreak layup to put Minnesota State up 38-30 with 2:19 left in the second quarter. As time expired on the half, Herzig pulled up for three on the wing and sunk the shot, which gave Minnesota State a 43-31 lead headed into halftime.
 
The Mavericks shot 53.1% in the first half and made two three-pointers in seven attempts. MSU shot 7-10 from the line. The team outrebounded MWSU by five in the first two quarters and dominated the paint, outscoring the Griffons 22-6 down low. The Maverick defense held Missouri Western to just 26.5% field goal shooting in the first half.
 
Both Bremer and Bursch ended the first half with 12 points. Bursch tallied five rebounds and three assists in the first 20 minutes. Herzig ended the half with nine points on 4-5 shooting and three steals. Gadient scored six points and also had three steals off the bench in the first half.
 
Despite the full-court pressure from Minnesota State, the Griffons had one fewer turnover than the Mavericks in the first half. Bonilla ended the first with nine points and three assists. Laura Toffali played great man defense against the Mavericks two stars, Bremer and Bursch, as she ended the first half with six rebounds and five steals on defense.
 
Bremer tipped away a steal on defense which allowed Stier to score a layup for the first points of the half, but Missouri Western immediately responded with a driving layup on the other end in response. Herzig stole the ball away from Bonilla on an inbound and scored it to reach double figures. Mackenzie Schweim had a steal-and-score for her first bucket of the game, but some nice passing opened up Toffali for her first three of the game to cut her team's deficit to 13. MIAA All-Conference Second Team member Marie Sepp made a layup, then Bonilla made one of her own to make it 51-40 with seven minutes to play in the period. After Stier connected on a two-point pull-up, Bonilla raced down the court for another score inside for the Griffins. Bremer made a great jump on pass for a takeaway and a quick score on the other end to maintain the Mavericks' 13-point lead.
 
Missouri Western hit a three to cut it to a nine-point game, but Kent made a floater on the other end to keep it a double-digit lead, then Bremer made a pair of tough layups inside, first off an offensive rebound, then after a bounce pass from the floor from Gadient to force a Griffon timeout. Sepp hit a corner three out of the break, but Bursch found Mallory Czinano under the hoop for a nice basket inside. The next time down, Bursch finessed her way through the lane and put some jelly on the shot to give MSU a 16-point lead with 1:41 left in the third. After a Leininger steal, Herzig pump-faked to get her defender in the air and put up a shot off the glass for two, but Sepp scored a layup, was fouled, missed the free throw and the Griffons grabbed the rebound and kicked it out to Bonilla for three to send the game to the fourth quarter with a 68-54 score.
 
Bremer pulled up for two off an inbound play to kick off the fourth quarter's scoring. After three rebounded misses on offense, Stier was able to muscle in a bucket, then Toffali and Sepp made layups on the other end. Czinano nailed a turnaround jumper after a Griffon turnover forced by Leininger. Through the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, the Mavericks outshot MWSU 14-4.
 
MWSU attempted to full-court press the Mavericks, but it resulted in an open layup inside for Bursch and a foul-line jumper from Gadient. Minnesota State would work to run down the clock, the rest of the way, soaking up the shot clock on each possession down the stretch. When the buzzer sounded, the Mavericks were victorious, 87-73.
 
The Mavericks shot 34-72 from the floor (47.2% FG) in the win. Despite shooting just 2-for-21 from beyond the arc (9.5% 3P) and just 65.4% from the charity stripe (17-26 FT), the team outrebounded the Griffons 47-36 and forced 31 turnovers that resulted in 30 points the other way for MSU. The dominance in the paint continued for Minnesota State the rest of the way, scoring 52 points down low.
 
Bremer ended the game with 18 points on 40% shooting from the field, three rebounds and two steals. Bursch dropped 17 on 6-10 shooting, eight boards and three assists. Herzig shot 6-9 and ended with 16 points, a couple boards and four steals. Gadient, off the bench, tallied 11 points, three boards, three assists and a team-high five steals.
 
MWSU was held to just 39.1% field goal shooting (25-64 FG), 26.3% shooting from deep (10-38 3P) and 13-18 from the free throw line (72.2% FT). The Griffons forced 26 Maverick turnovers and had 14 steals. Bonilla led the way with 21 points and four assists. Toffali recorded a double-double with 13 points, 11 boards, four dimes and seven steals. Sepp also scored 19 for the Griffons.
 
Minnesota State is back in action tomorrow, Saturday March 15 at 7:30 p.m. back in John Lance Arena in Pittsburg. The Mavericks will take on the hosting Pitt State Gorillas (30-3, 18-1 MIAA) tomorrow evening. In one game against one another, the Gorillas defeated the Mavericks 84-60 in Kansas City, Missouri in November 2017. On Friday, Pittsburg State defeated Harding in the first round of the NCAA Central Region Tournament, 87-75.