Minnesota State Mankato’s all-time leading scorer, NCAA Division II national champion learned early lessons in mental toughness
The day Minnesota State Mankato’s Natalie Bremer broke the school’s all-time leading scoring record started like any other game. Fans packed the arena two hours before tip. Thirty to 40 little girls lined up by the tunnel, decked out in purple-and-gold jerseys and face paint.
During the season’s intense game moments, the community sometimes cheered so loudly that even the home team felt a bit discombobulated. But when Bremer netted her 2,371th career point, the crowd’s eruption of cheers was deafening, and fans waved handmade posters.
“It was just the coolest little moment ever,” she reflected. “Just being able to take time to actually have a community there that supports you was really awesome.”
This community brought her to, and kept her at, Mankato, where this year she won the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association NCAA Division II Player of the Year award and the Division II Honda Athlete of the Year, honoring the most accomplished Division II female athlete. She and many other outstanding female student-athletes will be honored at the 50th anniversary Collegiate Women Sports Awards, which take place at 7 p.m. Eastern time July 27 in New York City and will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
Related: 50 years of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards: How NCAA champions built the Honda Cup’s legacy.
But before Bremer was scoring in national championships and hitting buzzer-beaters, she could barely get a shot off in the driveway of her family home in Lake City, Minnesota, just two hours down the road from campus.
Her earliest basketball memories include watching her two older brothers, Andrew and Zach. A classic youngest sibling, she would be found dribbling on the sidelines, mimicking their moves on the court.
The Bremers had two family farms ― theirs and Natalie’s grandparents ― where they raised dairy and beef cattle along with crops.
Natalie’s daily chores included lugging around a 5-gallon pail of food for the cows, cleaning the pens and bottle-feeding the calves. The work started around 5:30 a.m., with she and her brothers alternating between the morning and afternoon shifts.
After her chores, she played basketball. When she was 7, her brothers promoted her to play PIG and one-on-one with them.
“It mostly would end up with me crying,” she said. “I would probably get blocked almost every single time.”
But when Natalie would inevitably run into the house through tears of frustration, her parents would turn her around. If she wanted to play with her brothers, she would have to suck it up.
“It really developed the mental aspect of my game.”
Her scoreless days didn’t last forever. In fact, the experience laid a foundation of efficiency.
As a junior in high school, Bremer had already become her school’s all-time leader in scoring and steals. Bremer had her eyes set on playing collegiately in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Coach Emilee Thiesse’s program at Minnesota State Mankato intrigued her. Thiesse hadn’t yet brought her team to the NCAA tournament, but Bremer liked the program’s vision and values. The arena officially sold Bremer on coming to Mankato. People showed up to the games, and Bremer noticed a palpable energy around the women’s basketball fandom.
“Immediately when I stepped into the gym, I was like, ‘I love this place.’”
As a freshman, the 5-foot-11 self-proclaimed “string bean” brought a love for the game and an understanding of basketball. She admitted she had a lot to learn.
“I never knew my leadership could grow that much,” she said. “Being a part of a team that values what the culture is, meeting new people and following our coach’s values … she pushed me every day to be a better person, better athlete, better student.”
Bremer fell in love with the weight room, and she led through habits like being on the court 30 minutes before practice and enduring ice baths afterward. She would grab teammates to do extra workouts with them. She made the dean’s list each semester as an exercise science major.
“Natalie grew up on a farm, and it shows in her work ethic and her toughness,” Thiesse said. “She’s always loved a challenge, and growing her game was always an exciting challenge for her.”
Her freshman year she played in all 31 games, averaging 14.6 points on 47.7% field-goal percentage while earning second-team all-conference honors. Bremer remembers the upperclassmen supporting her in those early years, a theme of connectivity that persisted throughout her time in Mankato.
The summer after her freshman season, the team stayed on campus to train together.
“We wanted to work on our games, but we wanted to work on everything together. We had the whole summer to work on each other, so when the season came, we were already there.”
That second year, Bremer hit the 1,000-point mark and eventually led her team to win the Division II national championship.
“That entire week (leading to the championship) is my best memory. I can just remember it so well,” she said. “The entire week we just enjoyed each other so much, and it was the best time ever.”
During their tournament run, the Mavericks had another serious competition. Every day that season, the team competed in Wordle, with some heated conversations beginning at 5 a.m. before practice.
“We let ourselves go a little bit and just had fun.”
Her junior and senior year, Bremer averaged 20 points per game at nearly 50% from the field, while averaging less than 24 minutes a game. Her efficiency stemmed from her early days.
“Those one-on-one games, just feeling like, ‘I need to get this done, and I need to make it.’ It’s kind of a natural instinct. My teammates trust me to get something for us, so I’m gonna do that.”
Thiesse commended Bremer’s loyalty and commitment to her team.
“Natalie was never concerned with stats or her playing time and instead made every minute she had on the court count. Even as individual accomplishments were mounting, Natalie was grounded and focused on the team first,” the head coach said.
When she finished her long list of collegiate accolades with the Division II Honda Athlete of the Year, Bremer was grateful.
“The Honda Award caps off the amount of work I put in for the four years. Great athletes before me built me up to be able to receive this award,” she said. “Now, our program can show future recruits they can build people up here and that you want to be here. This is the place to be.”
What were once tears of frustration from playing against her brothers became tears of joy and appreciation over her college experience.
“I would just tell (my younger self) to enjoy the tears a little bit because they built me to who I am today. Looking back, I wouldn’t change it for the world. So just enjoy it a little bit. It’s frustrating in the moment, but it’s definitely, definitely worth it.”
