The Mayville State Comet Basketball team ventured down to Mankato, MN to take on the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings this Saturday afternoon. After a struggling first half and a resurgent second half, the Comets would make a tremendous effort in going for the win, but fell short by one in the 87-86 loss to BLC on the road. 

The Comets started things off early with a 5-2 lead, as Kylee Heurung hit a three for the first of many long-range shots from the Comets. The Vikings caught up and the game was tied at 8 after a three from Joelle Ertl. Three's would keep the Comets close in the first quarter as they connected on 5 of them, getting 15 out of their 19 points and being down by only 2 at the end of the quarter.

Nicole Bunting's bucket and another three from Heurung would lift the Comets ahead 24-21 in the first couple of minutes in the second quarter.  Bunting would give the Comets another lead with a 3 and lift them up 27-26, but from there Mayville State would go into a bit of a cold spell. BLC scored 7 straight until Cyan Hale dropped in a three, followed up by Joelle Ertl doing the same. That would bring the Comets within 2 as Coach Dennis Hutter called a timeout with 3:16 to go in the half. The Vikings would finish out the half with an 8-3 run, as Haley Sandin was tough for the Comets to contain in the half, netting 19 points of her team's 44.  The Comets would be down by 8 at the break, 44 to 36. 

The turning point for the Comets' first half woes came in the third quarter as they outscored the Vikings 20 to 12, 15 of those coming from five three-pointers. Kylee Heurung was the hot hand with 2 quick three's for the Comets, followed up by two more from Claire Blascziek in their third quarter spark. Blascziek would nail another one near the end of the quarter and give the Comets a slight lead until a Viking free-throw tied things up at 56 each.

The fourth quarter began with MSU keeping it tight, as Joelle Ertl helped to tie it up at 61 and kept the Comets into it with 2 more field goals to bring it within one at 66-65, Vikings with the lead. MSU went cold for a stretch while BLC rattled off a 9-0 scoring run to take a 10 point lead with 4:53 remaining. The Comets would then go on a 6-2 run and take a timeout with 2:33 to go. Blascziek would come through with 7 more points in the final minutes, along with another three from Bunting and a layup from Ertl to make it 81 to 83 and keep the Comets in it.

Blascziek would come up with her final bucket in the game to get MSU within 2 at 83 to 85 with 20.2 seconds left to go. With the Comets trying to stop the clock, the Vikings would hit two free throws to extend the lead to 4, but Kylee Heurung nailed a three with 1.6 seconds left on the clock to get the Comets to within one.  Time would however run out and Bethany Lutheran escaped with the slim win on their home court over MSU, 87-86. Both teams put up 61 points total in the final ten minutes of action, the Comets with 30 and BLC with 31. 

Head Coach Dennis Hutter felt the loss came down to defensive efforts overall in the game. "We did not defend well at all. Too many defensive mistakes. Glad to see us shoot the ball better, but it was just not a good defensive showing today."

The Comets had four players in double figures, three of them with over 20 points each. Claire Blascziek led the squad with 24, Kylee Heurung had 23, and Joelle Ertl finished with 21, while Nicole Bunting had 11. Heurung recorded a double-double on the afternoon, collecting 13 boards to go with her 23 points. Blascziek and Ertl each had five assists. The Vikings' Abby Olson would led all scorers with 27 in the game, and Haley Sandin finished with 25 for BLC. 

MSU now moves to 2-2 overall and gets ready to take on Bemidji State on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. start in an exhibition matchup.