HAYS, Kan. - In a back-and-forth, top-15 battle that featured nine ties, five lead changes and many more momentum shifts, 15th-ranked Minnesota State needed a shot at the buzzer to take the lead once and for all against the No. 3 Fort Hays State women's basketball team, stealing a 65-63 win inside Gross Memorial Coliseum on Friday (Nov. 18). Jessie Sallach buried a fadeaway 15-footer to tie things up with 3.4 seconds on the clock before MSU's Destinee Bursch poured in a high-arching shot over the top of two outreached defenders from just in front of the Maverick bench as time expired to secure the victory.
 
The Tigers (2-3) led by three early on when Ellie Stearns buried a 3-pointer to open the scoring, but the fast-paced Maverick (2-0) defense took control the rest of the period. MSU forced seven turnovers in the first quarter, giving the offense the chance to take a six-point lead at the end of the stanza, 18-12. The Tigers settled in on offense the rest of the way, committing seven more turnovers over the final three quarters combined.
 
Fort Hays State tied things up at 21 by the midway point of the second quarter after another Stearns 3-pointer and a Clary Donica jumper, but MSU closed the half on a 12-4 run to lead by eight at the break, 33-25.
 
Fort Hays State ratcheted things up in the third quarter, with the Tigers using a pair of big runs to turn a 10-point deficit into a six-point lead. FHSU scored 10 in a row on 4-of-5 shooting over a two-minute span to tie the score at 37 midway through the period before scoring eight-straight to build a six-point lead by the 3:50 mark in the period. The Tiger defense held MSU to just 1-of-10 shooting during the five-minute spurt while the offense hit 6-of-12 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.

 
Minnesota State bounced back with the next two baskets to close within one before each team scored in the final minute of the third period, giving the Tigers a slim 47-46 lead entering the fourth quarter.
 
After each team used big runs to build sizeable leads in the early going, the pressure tightened in the final quarter, with the score margin staying within one possession for the entirety of the final 10 minutes. Fort Hays State led by three early on following a Sallach layup before a big corner 3-pointer from Megan Earney gave the Tigers another three-point advantage with less than two minutes to play. But the Mavericks answered back each time, including a game-tying 3-pointer mere seconds after Earney's make.
 
The visitors led for all of 33 seconds in the final quarter, taking a one-point lead early on after back-to-back buckets before the Tigers went back up by two thanks to another Earney triple. The Mavericks later went up by two with 23 seconds to play after a second-chance bucket from Joey Batt before the Tigers missed on the other end with 11 seconds to go. Batt had a chance to put the game on ice at the line but missed both free throws, opening the door for Sallach's game-tying bucket out of a timeout.
 
The Mavericks then used their final timeout to advance the ball to the front court and draw up one final play, one that got Bursch the ball with room to move to the corner of the floor. The Tigers were all over it, with two defenders seemingly smothering the shot attempt, but Bursch's high-arching shot cleared the hands of the defenders before finding the bottom of the net.
 
Katie Wagner put up another dominating performance, driving to the hoop with her physicality and drawing nine fouls on the night to get to the line eight times, where she made seven of her free-throw attempts. The sophomore led the team with 17 points and 11 rebounds for her NCAA Division II-leading fourth double-double on the year.


Sallach also had an impressive night on the offensive end, pouring in all five of her shot attempts to total 10 points. Stearns hit three shots from behind the arc to total nine points while fellow freshman Brooke Loewe distributed seven assists and poked away two steals. Wagner, Sallach and Clary Donica all recorded two blocks in the contest. Batt led the Mavericks with 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
 
The Tigers will wrap up the weekend against Colorado Mesa Saturday afternoon (Nov. 19) beginning at 3 p.m.