Denny Weller
MANKATO — Defending Division II national champion Minnesota State showed off its youth movement Tuesday night at Bresnan Arena, walloping Dana College 85-30 in a season-opening nonconference win.
Senior point guard Tiffany Moe scored 15 points and collected a team-best seven assists as the Mavericks’ team balance overwhelmed the NAIA Vikings, who fall to 0-6 on the season.
Moe got plenty of help from a bevy of new faces — freshman guard Sarah Wiens, freshman forward Ali Wilkinson and freshman guard Kirstin Wilson — along with 6-foot senior forward Liz Trauger and sophomores Laura Weber and Jennie Noreen.
“We’re young and it was a good game for us to get the jitters out,” Moe said. “We’re strong off the bench and everyone knows their roles. We work a lot more on defense than offense in practice. We were getting a lot of ball pressure tonight and it turned into our offense.”
Dana College scored the game’s first points — a free-throw line jumper from Kalen Larson — before Noreen’s foul shot sparked a string of 13 unanswered points by the Mavericks. Moe and Noreen buried 3-pointers in the burst while Trauger, Weber and Wilkinson each had a bucket.
Trauger’s off-balance banker off an inbound pass resulted in a three-point play moments later and the rout was on. Weber’s three-point play, along with an aggressive putback and elbow jumper from Wilkinson, helped Minnesota State extend its margin to 50-14 at the break.
“It was exciting,” Wilkinson said of her first collegiate game. “I had a lot of nerves coming in. It was a little rough at the beginning because we didn’t really know each other but we’ve progressed and gotten better every day.”
Minnesota State, which received 31 bench points, had 32 points off turnovers, and 36 points in the paint, received 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds from Wilkinson. Wiens nailed three 3-pointers in finishing with 13 points while Nelson tallied 10 points. Trauger, coming of season-ending knee injury late last year, totaled nine points, four rebounds and four assists.
The Mavericks committed just five total fouls while playing a swarming style of defense.
“Our defense is a lot about rotating, covering and helping out,” Minnesota State coach Pam Gohl said. “It starts with defense on the ball and I thought our on-ball defense was very good tonight.
“They zone us and we hit the outside shots and we were also able to hit our baseline cutter, too. Our young players have been doing well in practice and with 11 sophomore and freshmen we know we’re going to need something from them. ... I thought they did a great job.”
Ralene Buschow led the Vikings with eight points and nine boards.
Minnesota State will hoist its national title banner before Friday’s 6 p.m. Pepsi Tip-Off opener with Grand View.
