By Chad Courrier
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO — Jamie Kienitz didn't know if there was time remaining. She just knew somebody had to grab the basketball and shoot it.
"I was hoping I had enough time," she said, just a few minutes after her three-point play with 0.6 seconds remaining gave Minnesota State a 75-74 victory over South Dakota in a North Central Conference women's basketball game Saturday at Bresnan Arena.
"It became chaos (on the final possession)," Minnesota State coach Lori Fish said. "We needed a player to step up, and Jamie did. I didn't think there was a chance of that going in, let alone getting a foul. Maybe the basketball gods were with us tonight."
The Mavericks were down 74-72 with six seconds to play, and Fish set up a play inside for Arin Andrews. When South Dakota packed the lane, Heather Peterson took an off-balance runner from the wing. Andrews nearly got the rebound, but the ball deflected to the right baseline, where Kienitz picked it up. As she was falling down, the freshman, just 5-foot-6, threw the ball toward the rim and it went in.
Amidst the celebration, Kienitz, a 52.9 percent free-throw shooter, went to the line and knocked down the game-winner. She also deflected South Dakota's inbounds pass, sending the largest crowd of the season (2,632) into a frenzy.
"I've been working on my free throws in practice, it's been kind of rough," Kienitz said. "I was confident, I knew I had to put it in."
The Mavericks hustled early, converting four offensive rebounds into a 14-5 lead. The lead grew to 26-16 with 6:52 remaining in the first half, but the Mavericks got sloppy with the basketball, committing six turnovers in a four-minute stretch to help the Coyotes roll off nine straight points.
The second half was closely contested, with 11 ties. The biggest lead was a 44-40 advantage for the Mavericks on Stacey Duarte's baseline hook with 14:40 to go.
The final tie came at 72, and South Dakota's Megan Woster drove the lane for a tough basket, setting up the final play.
"This should build our confidence," Kienitz said. "We know we could have won some others, we just needed to finish games. This should help us."
Andrews finished with a season-high 25 points as the Mavericks dominated the lane, outrebounding South Dakota 38-25. Peterson added 14 points, and Kienitz had 10. Leading scorer Kelli Freeman had just five points, making 1 of 7 from 3-point range, but she had seven rebounds and four assists.
South Dakota got 45 points from the bench, including 22 by Ashley Bjorkman, who was 6 of 9 from three-point range.
The Mavericks (8-11, 2-4 in NCC) play their next four games on the road, beginning Saturday at St. Cloud State.
