Emily Herzberg's basket at the buzzer lifted Minnesota State Mankato to a 70-68 victory over Cal State San Marcos in an NCAA Division II women's basketball semifinal Wednesday night in St. Joseph, Mo.

The Mavericks, who trailed by six points with less than four minutes to go, will play Texas Woman's in the championship game at 7 p.m. Friday. Texas Woman's defeated Ferris State 68-52 on Wednesday to advance to the title game. The last time the Mavericks reached the championship game was in 2009, when they won the national championship.

Herzberg's basket came after a turnover by the Cougars with five seconds remaining. Herzberg had tied the score with a free throw with 21 seconds left.


A pair of three-pointers by Charity Gallegos broke a 58-58 tie and gave the Cougars a 64-58 lead with 3 minutes, 46 seconds remaining.

The Mavericks responded with a 7-0 run to take a 65-64 lead. Two free throws by Mina Tameilau gave the Cougars a 66-65 lead with two minutes remaining.

Natalie Bremer scored with 75 seconds to go to give the Mavericks a 67-66 lead. Gallegos answered with two free throws to provide the Cougars a 68-67 lead with 46 seconds remaining.

Bremer, a sophomore guard from Lake City, Minn., scored 10 of her season-high 29 points in the fourth quarter for the Mavericks.

Bremer scored 14 in the first half to help the Mavericks take a 34-30 lead at halftime, but the Cougars outscored the Mavericks 23-17 in the third quarter to take a 53-51 lead into the fourth quarter.

Gallegos scored 20 to lead the Cougars (27-7). Teammate Jordan Vasquez added 16 points and 20 rebounds.

The victory was the 10th consecutive and 29th in the past 30 games for the Mavericks (31-5), who started the season with four losses in the first six games.

JOEL RIPPEL


• Gophers volleyball coach Keegan Cook has been named an assistant coach for the USA U-19 NORCECA girls volleyball team.

The team will compete in July in Honduras. That tournament is a qualifier for the 2025 FIVB World Championship.

• St. Thomas named Matt Bos as the coach of its men's and women's swimming and diving teams. Bos, who has previously coached at IUPUI, Eastern Illinois and Concordia (St. Paul), replaces Scott Blanchard, who resigned following 13 years with the program.

• Lakeville's Loic Mesanvi scored MNUFC2′s only goal as the Loons' second team fell 2-1 on the road to Real Monarchs, the MLS Next Pro affiliate of Real Salt Lake, after going down to 10 men in the second minute with Tamer Ibsais' red card. Zavier Gozo scored both goals for Real Monarchs.