SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Minnesota State, the champions of the NSIC South Division, forced Southwest Minnesota State into a season-high 33 turnovers to help earn an 89-65 victory in the quarterfinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Saturday night inside the Sanford Pentagon.
 
SMSU, the No. 5 seed from the NSIC South Division, ends its season with a record of 13-13. It's the first time since 2001-03 that SMSU has recorded three straight seasons of .500 or better.
 
MSU, ranked No. 6 in this week's NCAA Central Region rankings, improves to 21-5 overall and has now won six straight games.
 
The teams split the two regular season games this season with both winning on its home court. MSU, which has forced its opponents into more than 600 turnovers in 26 games this season, forced 82 turnovers against SMSU this season.
 
Meleah Reinhart, playing her last game for SMSU, scored a team-high 22 points on 5 of 9 shooting and 10 of 10 from the foul line. Sadie Stelter, also playing in her final game, added 18 points with four 3-pointers and closes her career as the program's all-time leader in 3-pointers with 199.
 
Abuk Akoi added eight points and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the Mustangs. She also added five blocked shots and ends her SMSU career as the program's all-time leader with 259 blocked shots.
 
SMSU finished the night shooting 41 percent (18 of 44), including 10 of 25 from 3-point range.
 
MSU scored 35 points off SMSU's turnovers and held a 40-24 rebound advantage. The Mavericks shot 46 percent (37 of 81) from the field with three 3-pointers. Joey Batt paced the Mavericks with a team-high 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting.
 
MSU started the game in a big way forcing five SMSU turnovers in the opening three minutes to build a 14-2 advantage. The lead would eventually build to 20-4 before the Mustangs' Reinhart stopped the run with a 3-pointer at the 4:18 mark of the first quarter.
 
The Mavericks however continued their red-hot shooting and finished the first quarter making 15 of 24 field goals while forcing seven Mustang turnovers in building a 32-12 lead after 10 minutes of play.
 
MSU would continue the defensive pressure in the second quarter forcing 12 more turnovers in taking a 49-25 lead into the halftime. It was the second most points allowed by SMSU in a half this season. MSU scored 50 in the second half in the first meeting between the teams in December.
 
SMSU shot 32 percent in the first half with MSU shooting 51 percent and holding a 22-11 rebound advantage.
 
MSU would hold-off any attempt for an SMSU comeback in the third quarter outscoring the Mustangs 27-21 to seal the victory.
 
Six Mustangs played their final games on Saturday, including Reinhart, Stelter, Akoi, Erin Baxter, Olivia Drummer and Lily Schoknecht.