The #2 nationally-rated Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks women were the 1st Minnesota “small college” to play in 2023-2024, winning 2 of 3 games in a jamboree-style shindig in Billings, MT, over the weekend. It should be noted that the Mavs were playing without the Northern Sun Conference pre-season player of the year Joey Batt, the 5-5 whirlwind senior guard from New Ulm. The Mavs beat Florida Tech 83-44 and Texas A&M-Kingsville 76-65, while losing to the #24 nationally-rated Texas Women’s U 76-71.
The Mavs (who for convenience sake will be referred to as the Mavs or Mankato) led Texas Women’s 62-56 with 7:45 remaining in the 4th quarter. Texas tied it up at 62, then went ahead 68-64 and 70-65. Hannah Herzig, Destinee Bursch and Emily Russo scored as Mankato went back up 71-70 at 1:53. Mankato went 0-for-2 with a turnover in the last 3 possessions, however, and Texas made 6-of-6 FT for the win. Herzig, from Totino-Grace, scored 16 for the Mavs with 5 steals, Bursch scored 13 and Natalie Bremer scored 12.
In the 1st game against Florida Tech, Bremer scored 15, Emily Herzberg 13 with 4 steals and Bursch 13 with 7 assists. And, in the win over Texas A&M-Kingsville, Bursch scored 21, Bremer 15 with 6 rebounds and Herzberg 13.
For the weekend, the Mavs shot about 43% from the field, a less than stellar 27% from 3-point range, and an also less than stellar 66% from the line, numbers that track pretty well with last year’s 45-31-73%. In other words, they’re a good but not a great shooting team. They make up for that with good all-around athleticism, which means that they play well on the boards and with the ball. In other words, they had 5 more offensive rebounds than their opponents in the 3 games and outscored them 51-36 on 2nd chance points. Meanwhile, the Mavs had 52 turnovers while their opponents had 78, and the Mavs won the points-off-turnovers battle by a resounding 84-35.
Mankato plays 2 more non-conference games this week, then opens NSIC play on Tuesday, November 21, against arch-rival and #8 rated UMD. The Mankato web site notes that the Mavs have been playing without Joey Batt, but offers nothing in the way of her injury status and if and when she is expected to return.