By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
Minnesota State women's basketball completed an inspired run through the NCAA tournament winning the Division II championship with an 89-73 win over Texas Woman's University on Friday night at Civic Arena in St. Joseph.
In front of a packed house, Minnesota State (32-5) was humming from the get-go, jumping out to a 26-13 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 46-32 lead at halftime.
The Mavericks' lead grew to 25 points at 76-51 with 8:56 to play. Texas Woman's (34-5) didn't give up, getting to within 81-71 with 2:09 to go, but the Mavericks made 8-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the deal.
Like they normally do, Minnesota State's defense created a bunch of turnovers and scored a lot of points off of them. In this case, the Mavericks scored 40 points off of 30 Pioneers turnovers.
Minnesota State came away with 21 steals. The Mavericks also sunk 10-of-23 from long range. Sophomore Natalie Bremer led the way with a game-high 27 points. Ava Stier had 13 points and Emily Herzberg had 12.
Ashley Ingram led Texas Woman's in defeat with 24 points. Jada Celsur was close behind with 20.
The Pioneers shot a respectable 43.9 percent (25-of-57), but they lost the turnover battle 30-15.
Minnesota State, which ended the season on an 11-game winning streak, tied a school record with 32 wins and won its second national title in program history and its first since 2009.
The Mavericks, who started the season 2-4, got revenge on all four of those teams that beat them in that stretch; Fort Hays State in regional semifinals, Southern Nazarene in the regional championship, Minnesota-Duluth on January 30, and now Texas Woman's.
The Pioneers had beaten Minnesota State, 76-71, on November 4th in Billings, Montana.
The Mavericks got the last laugh, but for the team, that's the not the lasting message.
"Yeah it was a revenge tour, but it was a chance to prove to ourselves that we were a different basketball team," Minnesota State head coach Emilee Thiesee said. "It was never about 'we're better than anyone else out there.' It was just, let's do what we do and prove to ourselves that we're a different team, and I think that's what our team handled so well all season long."
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