Box Score
 
MANKATO, Minn. — The Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team lead by 13 points in the first half, but stalled late in the second quarter as Minnesota State came back to defeat the Mustangs 79-63 at the Taylor Center in the final NSIC regular-season game.
 
SMSU, the No. 8 seed from the South, will now open the postseason on Wednesday night in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament at No. 1 seed Northern State North seed at 6 p.m.
 
SMSU (5-23, 3-19) finished shooting 41 percent (22 of 54) and 47 percent (8 of 17) from behind the arc. MSU (9-17, 8-14) shot 56 percent (29 of 52) from the floor and 40 percent (6 of 15) from downtown. SMSU held a 13-10 advantage in turnovers, but failed to convert as MSU scored 14 points off takeaway to SMSU's eight. MSU also held an 8-0 lead in second-chance points.
 
Annessa Rosch led SMSU with 17 points (6 of 12) including scoring on 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Hope Bonlander scored 15 points (7 of 11), while Lauren Hedlund added 10 (2 of 11), including 6 of 8 from the charity stripe. Bonlander led the SMSU defense with six rebounds. 

SMSU opened the game jumping out to a 7-2 lead early and built an 11-point after the first quarter. The Mustangs built its largest lead of the game in the first series of the second after a layup by Hedlund, but MSU responded with a 13-0 run to tied the game at 24-all with 4:16 left to play in the half. The Mustangs pulled ahead and led 31-26 with 3:22 left to play, but the Mavericks closed the half on an 8-2 run to hold a one-point advantage at the half.
 
Following the break, MSU continued its run with a 13-6 to start the second half and to build a double-digit lead following a layup with 2:53 left in the third quarter. MSU maintained its double-digit lead and pushed it to its largest of the game with 3:08 left in the fourth quarter at 77-53. SMSU finished the rest of the game on a 10-2 run but suffered the 79-63 defeat.