Box Score MADISON, SD – The Comets took to the road again for another NSAA battle down south as they went to Madison, SD to see a familiar face at Dakota State. Longtime Comet assistant coach, David Moe, is in his first season as the head coach of the Trojans. His assistant is no stranger to Comet fans either as former Comet Jamal Branco was hired as his top assistant. It was going to be a close battle of the minds as well as a tough physical performance of the two teams. 

In the first half, the Trojans answered Andi Gayner's opening bucket quickly as they went on a 9-0 run in the first four minutes of action.  A quick 30-second time out by Coach Dennis Hutter changed the momentum of the Comets as they answered back in a hurry with some scoring from Naomi Torgerson and Joelle Ertl, who was back in action after sitting out a few games with an injury. Ertl helped lift the Comets to a good lead as they went on a 14-0 swing of their own and were up 16-9. They had to fend off the Trojans' Lindsey Vogl's scoring as the quarter ticked away, Vogl had 11 of the Trojans' 18 points to the Comets' 28.  

The first two minutes of the second quarter saw both teams answering buckets with nine each after Sydney Gangl, Andi Gayner, and Claire Blascziek each had 3's to keep the lead at 37-27.  DSU called a timeout and then began to chip away at the Comets lead, fueled once again by Vogl as they went on an 8-2 run to close the gap to four. That effort forced MSU to call a timeout at 3:35 left to play in the half. Although Gayner lifted the Comets up by five more points with a 3-pointer and another bucket, the team had a hard time with the Trojans in the final minutes as both teams were tied up at 44 at the half. The Comets shot 38% from the field, compared to 55% for the Trojans. The Trojans had the advantage in rebounds, 30 to the Comets' 14. The Comets were able to keep turnovers relatively low, with only one turnover in the half. 

The third quarter began in a close battle with the Comets and Trojans switching the lead back and forth, tying it up five times until each team had 58 points. The Comets had another good surge to finish out the quarter on an 11-5 run, taking the lead by six at 69-63, with ten more minutes to play. Gayner was consistent and poured in eleven of the Comets 25 points in the quarter.  

The Comets opened things up very quickly in the beginning of the 4th, going on a 15-5 run to extend their lead by as much as 19.  The Trojans got a lot of their points at the charity stripe to finish the game, 16 of their 24 points in the final quarter. However, the Comets were able to hit the century mark in the end and come home with the victory, 100-87. 

Coach Dennis Hutter felt his team shot well on the night. "We did not play great defensively. The second half was much better than the first half. We shot the ball well tonight, it's good to see us shoot the ball well for two games in a row."

Andi Gayner led all scorers in the game with a solid 34-point performance, balancing it out with two 17-point halves and going 5-9 on 3's. She led the Comets with five rebounds as well. Following her was Naomi Torgerson with 18, Claire Blascziek with 13, and Joelle Ertl with eleven. The Comets had 21 assists in the game, led by Karliegh Weber with five, along with Torgerson and Blascziek with four each. 

The team shot 43% from the court, 41% from the 3-point line, and went 18-22 in free throws. Dakota State shot 49% from the field, went 7-22 on 3's and had plenty of chances at the free throw line, going 28 for 33. Although the Comets were out-rebounded 50 to 27 by the Trojans, it was turnovers that was a big factor in the end. The Comets caused 29 turnovers in the game while only committing six overall. The win puts the Comets at 10-3 overall and 3-2 in the NSAA. 

The #23 Comets will take a short break over the Christmas holiday and return to action against Morningside College on Dec 29th at 1:00 pm.