Photo by Zachary Mortland/SMSU Athletic Communications: Southwest Minnesota State guard Bri Stoltzman (2) surveys the court during a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference womens basketball semifinals matchup against Minnesota State at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. on Monday afternoon. The Mavericks defeated the Mustangs 88-72.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The fifth-seeded Southwest Minnesota State womens basketball team lost three of its five starters to injuries or foul-outs during its Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference semifinals against No. Minnesota State. The extreme test of the Mustangs’ depth proved too much to overcome in the 88-72 season-ending loss.

“[Minnesota State’s] going to push you like that. You’ve just got to keep confident and have to trust that the next kid’s going to do the best they can,” SMSU head coach Tom Webb said of the team’s missing starters. “It’s hard, it’s adverse, but that’s what cards were given to us.”

Sam Wall was on fire early in the game. The second-team All-NSIC guard led SMSU in scoring in last year’s semifinal loss to the Mavericks and looked poised to do the same this year with four first-quarter 3-pointers. The first of those 3-pointers put her past Jenna Borchers for the SMSU career record at 252. It marked the third consecutive year SMSU has seen its career record broken as Borchers broke Sadie Stelter’s record in 2023 and Stelter broke Michelle Bruns’ record in 2022.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, Wall didn’t have the opportunity to sustain her hot start. As the Mavericks attempted to inbound the ball halfway through the second quarter, Wall got tangled up with a Minnesota State defender and exited the game clutching her right shoulder. She returned in the third quarter but turned her ankle on Hannah Herzig’s foot during a scramble for a loose ball. Herzig finished the play with a fast-break layup to give the Mavericks a 67-61 lead at the third-quarter buzzer and Wall left the game, unable to return this time. She finished the night with 15 points on 4 of 7 shooting from 3-point range.

“You’re taking out a great shooter and a kid that can really space [the floor]. Whoever comes in, they can do the same thing, but Sam has done it at a high, high rate,” Webb said. “She’s got experience, confidence. She can shoot it in transition, she can shoot it off the skip, she can shoot it off the dribble, so it certainly… allowed them to key in on Bri [Stoltzman] a little bit more and kind of take away some driving space.”

The Mavericks’ aggressive, fast-paced play forced the Mustangs into foul trouble early. Six Mustangs finished with three or more fouls in the game and senior starters Hannah Parsley and Peyton Blandin both fouled out in the fourth quarter, two minutes in and five minutes in respectively. SMSU trailed by 6 points entering the final frame but, after the Mustangs lost three of their starters, the Mavericks pulled away to outscore SMSU by 10 points in the final frame.

With Wall out and the rest of the starting lineup in foul trouble, Bri Stoltzman stepped up big time for the Mustangs. The first-team all-conference guard and the NSIC’s second-leading scorer finished the night with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Though Stoltzman typically thrives off her ability to get to the rim, she showed off her ability to shoot the ball in Wall’s stead with 4 of 9 shooting from beyond the arc and a perfect 6 of 6 from the charity stripe. It marks the second year in a row she scored at least 20 points against the Mavericks in the tournament semifinals and is her second consecutive game this tournament with at least 25 points after she scored 30 in an 86-75 quarterfinal win over Northern State on Sunday.

Stoltzman’s big scoring outing also moved her up to 579 points on the season, putting her past Lillie Brown’s program record of 577 single-season points that she set in 1995. The record-setting basket came on a 3-pointer to cut Minnesota State’s lead to 72-82 with 3:10 remaining in the fourth quarter. That turned out to be the Mustangs’ final basket of the game as the Mavericks shut out the Mustangs for the final three minutes.

Stoltzman’s 18.7 points per game also rank sixth in program history.

Both teams were playing full-steam ahead to start the first quarter. It took Emily Russo just six seconds after the opening tip to get the Mavericks on the board with a layup. Batt then hit a fastbreak jumper and a 3-pointer off a Russo steal to give the Mavericks a 7-0 lead less than 90 seconds into the game.

The Mavericks continued to sprint ahead, leading 8-21 halfway through the period when SMSU started to claw its way back into the game. The Mustangs’ rally started with Wall. She hit a pair of 3-pointers, broken up by a Madison Gehloff and-1 and a Russo layup, to cut the deficit to 6 points. Minutes later, Parsley grabbed a steal to set up a Blandin fastbreak layup to bring the Mustangs within 5 points, 29-24, in the final minute of the quarter. Still, Batt hit a free throw and a jumper at the buzzer to give the Mavericks a 34-26 lead after one.

Madison Gehloff’s ability to get to the free-throw line came in handy early for the Mustangs. Coming off a career-high 35 points and a double-double in a first-round win over Augustana and finishing just a rebound shy of her second career double-double against Northern State in the quarterfinals, Gehloff was in rhythm again in the semifinals. She had 10 first-half free throw attempts and knocked down nine of them to finish as the Mustangs’ second-leading scorer with 17 points on the night.

The Mavericks early lead came down to turnovers. Minnesota State has been one of the most aggressive defenses in the NSIC this season and they looked the part on Monday, building a plus-7 turnover advantage in the first five minutes. SMSU was able to limit mistakes for the rest of the game but the Mavericks still finished with 13 turnovers to SMSU’s 25. Minnesota State used that advantage to outscore SMSU 27-15 in points off turnovers. Webb said he felt his team didn’t adjust to the Mavericks’ physicality early in the game but that his team settled in later and played “pretty good” for the remainder of the game.

SMSU held Minnesota State scoreless for the first two minutes of the second quarter and a Wall midrange jumper and a Stoltzman fadeaway at the edge of the restricted area brought the Mustangs within 4 points. A few minutes later, Brynn Busse came up with a steal and a corner 3-pointer to make the score 36-35 and a pair of Gehloff free throws gave SMSU its first lead of the game with 4:58 remaining in the second quarter.

The lead was short-lived; Ava Stier came back with a go-ahead layup for the Mavericks just nine seconds later. The Mavericks led for the rest of the game.

Still, SMSU wouldn’t go away. The Mavericks didn’t lead by more than 5 points for the remainder of the first half and a last-minute 3-pointer from Stoltzman trimmed Minnesota State’s lead to 48-46 going into the locker room for halftime.

While the Mustangs held a sizeable advantage from long range, shooting 12 of 35 from 3-point range compared to 2 of 11 for Minnesota State, the Mavericks’ size was too much for the Mustangs to handle in the interior. The Mavericks built a 56-18 advantage in points in the paint by shooting 54% on 2-point attempts for the game an a blazing-hot 76% in the first quarter.

Counterintuitively, SMSU still held the rebounding advantage on the night. Led by Stoltzman’s 10 rebounds and Busse’s five, SMSU grabbed 36 rebounds to Minnesota State’s 33 and finished with an 11-7 advantage in second-chance points.

Batt led the Mavericks with 26 points on 12 of 18 shooting while Destinee Bursch added another 22 points on 6 of 9 from the field and 10 of 13 from the free-throw line.

Minnesota State’s bench outscored SMSU’s bench 19-8 in the game. The Mustangs finished with fewer bench points than their opponent in each of their final 11 games of the year.

SMSU finishes its season at 19-12. The game was the final game for seniors Wall, Gehloff and Parsley. The Mustangs also graduate Sarah Conlon, who was unable to play her final two seasons due to injury.

“[The seniors] helped us grow the program again and again and get better every day. They work extremely hard… and they left the jersey in a better place,” Webb said. “We talked about that all the time, leaving a legacy and leaving the jersey in a better place. They all brought different things to the table, which is really fun.

“It’ll be hard to replace [them]. I think that’s the cool part is every year is a new year. You don’t ever want to, I don’t want to say replace anyone, you just change. We’ll change next year and figure out what it looks like and then move forward.”