SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Minnesota State women's basketball (24-6, 18-4 NSIC) defeated No. 19 Southwest Minnesota State in the semifinal round of the NSIC Tournament Monday afternoon, 87-74. The Mavericks forced 35 Mustang turnovers and were able to score 46 points from those defensive takeaways. First Team All-Conference players Destinee Bursch and Natalie Bremer combined for 43 points in the win, while NSIC Player of the Year Bri Stoltzman was held to just 16 points and 10 turnovers.
 
The Mavericks forced a shot clock violation on the game's first possession after SMSU won the opening tip. On the other end, Bursch made her first shot of the game, a jumper from the elbow. The Mustangs got on the board before Bremer responded with a two-point jumper of her own. Bremer made her third shot of the game on a driving layup to put MSU up four. After the media timeout, Ava Stier made a layup off a nice pass from Hannah Herzig. The Maverick starting post made a couple of free throws, then a steal from Bursch resulted in points as she sliced her way into the lane for two. Audrey Swanson for SMSU hit a three in the corner and a free throw made it a five-point game. Bremer stole the ball from a Mustang player off a rebound and put it up for two, then made a couple of shots at the line to put MSU up 18-9 with 1:33 left in the first quarter. Two First Team All-Conference players for SMSU, Peyton Blandin and Stoltzman, made transition layups before Elisabeth Gadient and Bursch made two-point jumpers to give Minnesota State a 22-13 lead headed into the second quarter.
 
After a scoreless first minute of the period, Stier hit a turnaround jumper in the post to extend the Maverick lead to double digits. Kenzie Jones for SMSU and Mackenzie Schweim for Minnesota State traded three-point makes on consecutive possessions, then Blandin hit another three to cut it to a four-point game with 7:03 left in the half. Stoltzman made a layup to cut it to two, but Herzig extended the lead with a turnaround jumper from the low block. Stier connected on a mid-range jumper to give Minnesota State a six-point lead headed into the second quarter media timeout.
 
Out of the break, Bursch found Gadient under the hoop for a bucket in the paint. Stoltzman backed down a defender and pulled up for a fadeaway jumper in the paint for two, then Stier hit a three from the wing off another assist from Bursch, her third. She intercepted a Mustang inbound pass and sprinted down the court for a layup, which put the Mavericks back up by 10 with 2:54 in the quarter. Natalie Nielsen grabbed an offensive board off a three-point miss and put it back up for two, then Gadient raced down the court for a jumper of her own. Nielsen scored again off a dime in transition from Jones and Swanson scored off one from Stoltzman to cut it back to a six-point game. Bremer made a couple of baskets to close out the half, but the Mustangs hit a plethora of free throws to send it to the halftime break with Minnesota State up 44-39.
 
MSU shot 51.4% from the field in the first half with two three-point makes. The team shot a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line in the first two quarters. The Maverick defense forced 17 Mustang turnovers which resulted in 24 points on the board for Minnesota State. The team also dished out 12 assists in the first half and scored nine second chance points off seven offensive boards.
 
Bremer led all scorers with 14 at the half. She also had two boards and two steals and shot 5-8 from the field. Stier had nine points at halftime and Bursch scored eight on 4-5 shooting from the field. Bursch had four assists and three steals in the first 20 minutes of play.
 
Southwest Minnesota State shot 56% from the field in the first half and made three threes. Defensively, the team had three blocked shots in the first. Nielson and Swanson each had nine points and four rebounds in the first half. Stoltzman and Blandin both ended the first two quarters with eight points.
 
The Mavericks and Mustangs traded turnovers before Bursch nailed a three from the wing after a half-court violation for the first points of the second half. She made a step-through layup for her sixth basket of the game headed into the first media break of the second half. After the pause in action, Bursch was wide open for three out of an inbound play to reach eight points in the third quarter. She started the second half on an 8-0 run all by herself.
 
Nielsen made a couple shots at the line and a tough layup inside for SMSU's first points of the half. Bremer responded with a pretty shot for three at the top of the key to give Minnesota State a 55-43 lead with 5:45 left in the third. Some great defense led to takeaways that resulted in a couple of trips to the line, where Stier and Herzig connected on six shots to give MSU a 61-45 lead. Bursch found Bremer under the hoop off an inbound play for an easy two. Both teams traded makes at the charity stripe before Swanson made a layup to cut the Maverick lead to 15. Stier grabbed an offensive board and put it back up for two, then Jones made a layup on the other end to make it 70-52 headed into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
 
A pair of makes from the free throw line from Bursch kicked off the fourth quarter, then after the Mustangs made a couple of shots inside, Bremer made two at the line to reach 21 points on the afternoon. Gadient made a Euro-step layup, but Stoltzman and the Mustangs responded with a make of their own on the other end. After a pair of free throws from Gadient, Stoltzman hit a pull-up jumper to cut the Maverick lead to 14 with 6:10 to play. Schweim dished the rock down low to Gadient who hit a turnaround jumper. Stoltzman sunk a corner three for Southwest Minnesota State, but Bursch reached 20 points with a pair of free throws on the other end. The Mustangs made another three-pointer and a quick layup inside to cut it to a 12-point game with 2:51 left to play. Minnesota State was able to close out the game with an 87-74 victory over SMSU to move onto the NSIC Tournament Championship.
 
The Mavericks made 42.2% of their field goal attempts (27-57 FG), shot 41.7% from beyond the arc (5-12 3P) and 28-36 at the free throw line. The team forced 35 SMSU turnovers and record 21 steals, which led to 46 points for MSU. Minnesota State dished out 18 assists on offense.
 
Bursch led all players with 22 points, 14 of which came in the second half. She shot 8-11 from the field, 2-3 from deep and totaled five assists and four steals in the win. Bremer ended with 21 points on 7-13 shooting, five boards and four steals. Stier scored a career-high 17 points with seven rebounds and three assists. Gadient scored 13 points off the bench with two assists and two steals. Despite not scoring any points, freshman Lucy Leininger led the team with five steals.
 
Southwest Minnesota State shot 47.4% from the field (27-57 FG). Minnesota State held the Mustangs to just 5-24 shooting from behind the three-point line. SMSU made only 65.2% of its free throw attempts. The team turned it over 35 times, second-most all season; The Mustangs turned the ball over 36 times against Minnesota State back in December.
 
The Mavericks held NSIC Player of the Year Stoltzman to just 16 points and 10 turnovers before she fouled out. Swanson led the Mustangs with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Nielsen also had 16 points.
 
Minnesota State plays in the NSIC Tournament Championship tomorrow, Tuesday, March 4 against the top-seeded Concordia-St. Paul (28-2, 20-2 NSIC). That game will be played at 4:00 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon. The Golden Bears are currently on a 15-game win streak. CSP took down the Mavericks 64-56 in St. Paul back in late January. MSU dominated the Bears at home in December. 85-66.