ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks survived 14 lead changes Monday night to top the Georgia Southwestern Hurricanes 93-88 in a DII NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Elite Eight game at the St. Joseph Civic Arena.

The fifth-seeded Mavericks (30-5) will now take on eighth-seeded Cal State San Marcos at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night in the Final Four for a chance to play for the National Championship on Friday night.

The fourth-seeded Hurricanes end their season with a 29-4 record.

Despite being outshot 55%-42% from the floor and being outrebounded 39-35, the Mavericks’ defense was key again as they forced 26 turnovers while committing 13.

The Mavericks trailed 52-45 at the half after the Hurricanes put together a strong second quarter that saw them outscore the Mavericks 31-21.

Joey Batt, who played 39 minutes in the win, led the Mavericks with 21 points, six assists and four rebounds, while Natalie Bremer had 14 points, six steals and five rebounds and Destinee Bursch had 13 points. Emily Russo, Emily Herzberg and Hannah Herzig each added 9 points for the Mavericks.

The Hurricanes were led by Lexi McCully’s 18 points, while Destiny Garrett had 14 points and Jashanti Simmons added 13 points.

The back-and-forth battle saw McCully bury a 3 to give Georgia Southwestern an 85-84 lead with 1:24 left to play. That lead was brief as Herzberg hit a 3 of her own 10 seconds later to put the Mavericks up 87-85.

Russo then hit the back end of two free throws for an 88-85 Mavericks lead, forcing a Hurricanes timeout with 49 seconds left. Herzig then grabbed a defensive rebound for the Mavericks off a Hurricanes miss before the Mavericks took a timeout with 31 seconds left.

Batt was fouled out of the timeout and sank two bonus free throws for a 90-85 lead.

The Mavericks hit 3 of their last 4 shots from the charity stripe after that to cancel out another McCully 3 and move the Mavericks on to the Final Four.