Box Score
MANKATO, Minn.- Southwest Minnesota State (3-22, 3-18 NSIC) improved on its season shooting average after going 41 percent from the floor as a team in a losing effort as Minnesota State (16-9, 12-9 NSIC) defeated SMSU, 106-77 on Friday night in the Taylor Center.
Caleigh Rodning reached her seventh straight double while tying for the team lead in points scored with 16 points in addition to 10 rebounds.
Lauren Hedlund also had 16 points on the night on 7-of-8 shooting with five rebounds.
Taylor Holicky added 13 points while
Emily Buysse had her first double-digit scoring effort of her career with 11 points.Â
Southwest Minnesota State improved on its season averages offensively, going 24-of-59 (41 percent) as a team while tying its season high for points scored in a loss (77).Â
Minnesota State came out strong on the offensive end and never looked back as the Mavericks held the lead for all but the opening 24 seconds of the contest. MSU scored a season high (106) for an SMSU opponent as Britney Scherber scored 20, Karina Schroeder scored 18, and two other Mavericks' players finished with double-digit point totals.
Scherber scored eight in the game's opening quarter, knocking down two 3-pointers to help the Mavericks race to a 35-17 lead after one as MSU posted the most points in a quarter for an SMSU opponent this season.
MSU scored the game's first nine points as SMSU struggled to find an answer out of the gates and went just 1-of-5 on three point attempts as the Mustangs tried to shoot themselves out of their early hole.
SMSU, who trailed by 19 at the halftime break, was never able to bring the Mavericks' lead back to single digits as MSU led by as many as 33 towards the end of the third quarter.Â
The Mavericks finished the night shooting close to 50 percent as a group (39-of-80) and turned the ball over just nine times in the entire game.Â
Southwest Minnesota State will play its final regular season game of the season tomorrow afternoon as they take on Concordia-St. Paul on the road starting at 4 p.m.
