The Comet Women's Basketball team traveled into northwest Minnesota for an exhibition matchup versus the Bemidji State Beavers on Tuesday evening. It remained a tight, close contest until the end, with BSU pulling away with some key free throws to win it 78 to 71 over the Comets. 

A balanced attack from the Comets helped keep the game tight in the first quarter. Andrea Skillingstad got things started for the Comets with two buckets to tie it up at 4. BSU quickly had a three and a free throw to double their lead, but Alex Arp and Kylee Heurung connected on back to back three's to help MSU take the lead twice to make it 12-10.  Taylor Shamp helped to lift the Comets into the lead once again with 2 more buckets, followed up by Cyan Hale to extend the lead to 5. That was shortened with another three from BSU to take the Comets' lead down to 2, making it 20-18 after the first quarter. 

Hale would stay on fire and connect on a three, plus get another bucket to fall and lift the Comets up 25-23. However, the Comets' lead wouldn't last for long. BSU's Emma Rappe would nail a three-pointer to give the Beavers the lead, keeping the Comets away by just a few as the quarter finished out. Their lead would extend by as much as six, but a three from Joelle Ertl, a free throw by Skillingstad and a last second shot by Haley Anderson would close that gap to one with BSU having the 39-38 edge at the half. 

Cyan Hale would make the first bucket of the second half and lift the Comets up by 1, with Claire Blascziek also able to score and tie it up again and take another one point lead after her free throw. It would be a common theme for parts of the night, with the two teams swapping leads 19 times total in the tight game. Two consecutive threes from Joelle Ertl and Nicole Bunting would lift the Comets up by 5, forcing BSU to call a timeout with 4:59 to go in the third quarter.  The Comets would hit a dry spell for the remainde of the quarter, only netting a free throw while BSU went on an 11 to 1 swing. The scoring drought would stop after Claire Blascziek banked in a last second three pointer for the Comets, narrowing it down to a 55-53 BSU lead with ten minutes to go.

Blascziek would come alive down the stretch for the Comets, connecting on two back to back three's to tie it at 61, then to take a 64-62 lead. BSU and MSU would continue to keep the game close, with ties happening again at 66 and 69 points with 2:52 left to play, the latter happening after a Nicole Bunting three-pointer. Claire Blascziek would tie it up for the Comets at 71 on a nice layup with 1:28 to go. But, BSU would edge it out in the end with Maria Appicelli getting a layup to drop and the Beavers finishing it out with 5 more free throws after the Comets were forced to foul down stretch. BSU went on to win the game 78 to 71. 

Despite the loss, Head Coach Dennis Hutter was pleased with how the team has played in recent days. "It's fun to compete against these higher level Division 1 and Division 2 teams. We have shown that we can play with almost anybody. We played much better defensively tonight. Still have to find a way to stop fouling so much. Love the kids effort tonight. We are close, we just have to find a way to pull out one of these close games."

Leading for the Comets was Claire Blascziek with 14 points on the night, followed up by Joelle Ertl and Cyan Hale with 12 each. Nicole Bunting had 9 and Kylee Heurung finished with 8 points for the Comets. Blascziek was 3 for 9 on three's and had a game-high of 4 assists. Andrea Skillingstad led with a game-high of 9 rebounds, followed by Ertl with 8 and Taylor Shamp with 7. MSU edged out BSU in rebounds by 2, with 42 to 40 for team totals.

Bemidji State was led by Emma Rappe with a game-high of 15 points, plus three others in double figures: Maria Appicelli and Sydney Zerr had 14 each, plus Taylor Bray with 10.  The Beavers shot 46% from the field, while MSU shot just under 38% and only 24% on three's. 

Next action for the Comets will be this Saturday at the University of Minnesota-Crookston in Crookston, Minn. at 2 p.m. for another exhibition matchup.