Natalie Bremer, Minnesota State head into national title game with hearts still pounding

Mar. 28—ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Natalie Bremer finally dropped off to sleep at 3 a.m. Thursday.

It had been quite a night for the Lake City graduate and her Minnesota Sate University, Mankato women's basketball team.

With 3.5 seconds left in regulation, Bremer received an inbounds pass near the top of the key from Emily Herzberg who then angled directly for the hoop. Bremer, immediately double-teamed, dropped a perfect pass over the top of Cal State University San Marcos defenders' hands and hit that cutting Herzberg for a layup.

That did it: Minnesota State, Mankato 70, Cal State San Marcos 68.

Bremer and friends went into the good night with hearts still pounding after having sealed a spot in Friday's 7 p.m. NCAA Division II National Tournament championship game against Texas Woman's University.

It will be the second time in school history that the Mavericks have made it that far. In 2009, they won it all.

"We got back to our hotel about 11:45 last night and I finally got to sleep about 3 a.m.," Bremer said. "Everyone in my room (teammates) was still up until then. We were all soaking it in."

There was an enormous amount for Bremer to absorb. That's the deal when your team not only wins in the national semifinals, but you've had the biggest hand in making it happen.

That describes Bremer. The 5-foot-11 all-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference guard had the game of a lifetime. Besides the winning pass to Herzberg, the sophomore finished with 29 points on 13-for-24 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. Both were team highs.

Those points have already put her over 1,000 for her career with two seasons left and a national championship yet to play for.

"I really didn't feel any different going into this game than any other game," said Bremer, whose 29 points were one shy of her career high. "I have a lot of confidence in my team and they give me a lot of confidence. And I have to give a lot of credit to our bench. They brought (energy) all night long. But as the game went along, I just kept getting to the basket and the shots kept going in. I shot more than I normally do, but I kind of had to because we had some girls in foul trouble."

What the Mavericks do every night is apply some of the most frenetic and speedy full-court pressure in the country. That suits Bremer — a 100-meter sprinter in high school — quite well.

She's not the only blazing one on this team, which is a nightmare for opponents.

That wild but perfectly designed defense forced 27 Cal State San Marcos turnovers (the Mavericks scoring 24 points off of them) and has now forced 1,008 of them for the season. Bremer had two of Minnesota State, Mankato's 14 steals Wednesday.

As a former elite high school sprinter, Bremer would have figured to be her team's fastest player. She says she's not, that a few of them have taken turns winning races.

For the Mavericks, that's a beautiful thing.

"All of that speed allows us to set up our full-court defense, go on big (scoring) spurts and it wears on teams," said Bremer, whose Mavericks attack that way from start to finish. "It's a really fun style to play and most teams haven't seen it. It's fun and exciting."

Next up for 31-5 and No. 13 ranked Minnesota State, Mankato is a rematch with No. 7 Texas Woman's University (34-4) with a national title on the line. It beat the Mavericks 76-71 in early November. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network.

Minnesota State, Mankato has done well in these playoffs in "revenge" games. It beat the University of Minnesota Duluth, Fort Hayes State University and Southern Nazarene University in the playoffs, all teams that had beaten it earlier this season.

Next up on that revenge tour is Texas Woman's University, this one for a national championship.

Bremer says her team is primed for it.

"Since the last time we played them, we've grown a lot," Bremer said.