Joey Batt, Minnesota State Mankato women rally to beat Georgia Southwestern in Division II Elite Eight

The Minnesota State Mankato women’s basketball team rallied for an 93-88 victory over Georgia Southwestern in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Div. II Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Mo.

Joey Batt scored 21 points to help the Mavericks (30-5) overcome a 52-45 halftime deficit to advance to the semifinals on Wednesday. The Mavericks will play Cal State San Marcos, which defeated Gannon 85-80 in OT on Monday. The game is at 8:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

Natalie Bremer added 14 points for the Mavericks. Lexi McCully scored 18 to lead the Lady Hurricanes (28-4).

The MSU Mankato men’s team plays in its D-II Elite Eight at 6 p.m. tonight against Ferris State. The game will be streamed on NCAA.com.

JOEL RIPPEL

After a runner-up finish at the Big Ten championship, the No. 15 Gophers gymnastics team was selected Monday to compete at the Fayetteville Regional as it seeks its seventh NCAA championship appearance.

The Gophers will face No. 2 LSU, No. 18 Oregon State and the winner of the play-in matchup between Boise State and BYU on April 4. The top two there will face the winners from the other session, featuring host No. 7 Arkansas, No. 10 Kentucky, No. 24 Arizona and Nebraska, in the regional final on April 6.

Two teams will advance from the regional to the NCAA championship April 18-20 in Fort Worth, Texas. If the Gophers do not advance to nationals, they could send individual qualifiers — the top all-arounder and top competitor in each event in the regional semifinals (across both sessions) earn a trip to Dickies Arena and a shot at an individual national title. The Gophers have never won a team championship; they have one individual title on the uneven bars (Marie Roethlisberger, 1990).

Minnesota State Mankato will face Ferris State in the quarterfinals of the Division II men’s basketball Elite Eight at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Evansville, Ind.

The Central Region champion Mavericks (32-2) take a 13-game winning streak into their first appearance in the Elite Eight since 2011. Ferris State (28-7) has a nine-game winning streak after capturing the Central Region crown. The Bulldogs are making their first appearance in the Elite Eight since winning the Division II championship in 2018.

Malik Willingham, a senior from Waseca, Minn., leads the Mavericks in scoring (18.9 points per game). Kyreese Willingham, a junior from Waseca who was the MVP of the Central Region tournament, is averaging 14.5 points per game.

The Mavericks and Bulldogs are meeting for the first time since the 1992-93 season. The winner will advance to the semifinals Thursday and play the winner of West Texas A&M and North Georgia. The other quarterfinal matchups are Nova Southeastern vs. Southern New Hampshire and Gannon vs. Cal State San Bernardino.

JOEL RIPPEL

* The PWHL made some scheduling changes, so Minnesota’s next game will now come April 18 at 6 p.m., in Montreal. That game replaces the April 24 meeting between the two teams on the original schedule.

* The Gophers men’s golf team finished 13th in the Seahawk Intercollegiate in Wilmington, N.C. Auburn won the tournament with a 11-over score of 875. The Gophers, who finished with 913, were led by senior Ben Warian’s 45th-place finish with rounds of 74, 79 and 75.