Box Score Bellevue, NE – Coming off a nice stretch of 3 straight home wins, the #23 Lady Comets ventured on the road to Bellevue University at Bellevue, NE to take on the Bruins on Saturday. The team was looking to continue their winning streak and keep climbing up the NSAA standings.
Joelle Ertl and Andrea Skilingstad tried to get the Comets rolling right away, with Ertl nailing a 3 and Skillingstad with a quick bucket inside to help the team jump to a 5-0 lead. Bellevue was able to push back and tie things up at 7 apiece. The Bruins got another bucket inside, but the Comets found a nice streak of two three's by
Kylee Heurung, followed up by some other scores from
Claire Blascziek and
Cyan Hale to finish the quarter on a 10-4 run to go up 17-13.
The Bruins came back quickly with three straight 3's to begin the second quarter, pushing the Comets into a 5 point deficit in a hurry. Ertl casted in another 3 to break the run, followed up by Hale with a long distance connection as well, plus another drive to the bucket by Ertl to close the gap, 25-26. It didn't take the Bruins long to go on another run, this time with an 8-2 spree to take the lead at halftime, 34-27. The Comets were outscored 21-10 in the quarter by Bellevue.
The third quarter began with the teams in a bit of a back and forth battle, as Ertl hit a layup and
Karleigh Weber hit two back to back three's to narrow the deficit to 6, down 41-35 as the Bruins took a quick timeout at 6:45 to play in the quarter. The Bruins steadily took control of their lead though, as the game was turning into a bit of a three point contest by some, namely by the Bruins' Rylee McCartney. She seemed to be locked on target throughout the game, going 7 for 13 from behind the line. The Comets found themselves down by 12 with 10 minutes to play, and couldn't control the tempo of the game as they would like to. The Bruins managed the clock well for the final quarter, taking full control of the game and also claiming a victory over the Comets, 82 to 65.
Leading all scorers was the Bruins' Rylee McCartney with 23 on the night. For the Comets, they were led by
Joelle Ertl with 19, and
Claire Blascziek with 12.
Cyan Hale,
Karleigh Weber and
Kylee Heurung had 8 each to round out the Comets effort. Ertl and Heurung had 4 rebounds each. As a team, the Comets shot 40% from the field and 42% from behind the arc, plus went 8-10 at the free throw line. In comparison, the Bruins shot 46% from the field, and an impressive 54% from the 3 point line.
Next action for the #23 Lady Comets (14-5, 5-3 NSAA) will be at home next weekend, January 19th and 20th. Friday's game will be against #19 Valley City State at 5:30, and Saturday at 3pm versus Dickinson State.
