The Mayville State Women's Basketball squad met a familiar foe on Saturday afternoon at the University of Jamestown in Jamestown, ND. After facing them in conference battles for many years, the Jimmies have found a home in a new conference this season. The distance between the two colleges is still close enough for the Comets to keep them on their schedule. The Jimmies were ranked #16 in the country going into the contest and the Comets gave them quite a game throughout most of it in a 49-61 loss to UJ.
The game started out with the Jimmies taking a 6-0 run, but
Cyan Hale helped close the gap early to make it 8-4. UJ would use a 9-0 run to jump out to 13 point lead and hold to a 12 point lead as the first quarter ended. The Jimmies' Jenna Doyle was tough to contain as she poured in 10 of UJ's 22 first quarter points. Mayville State came back with a strong second quarter that kept the game from running away on them.
Claire Blascziek jumpstarted the effort with a 3, as the Comets would clamp down hard on defense to keep the Jimmies scoreless for over the first 4 minutes of the second quarter. They would hold the Jimmies to just 7 points in the ten minute span and score 19 of their own to tie things up at 29 each at the half.
The game remained a tight one in the third quarter as well, with the Comets taking the lead for the first time from a Blascziek 3-pointer shortly after the first minute of play. Another 3 by
Cyan Hale would lift the Comets by 4 for their biggest lead of the game. UJ would chip away at it with some free throws and kept the Comets at 37 points for quite a while before
Nicole Bunting broke the scoreless streak with a 3 to take the lead again at 40-39. A bucket by UJ's Marina Nowak would lift the Jimmies ahead at the end of the third to make it 41-40 with ten minutes left to play.
The Jimmies would battle for a bit with the Comets as the game became tied again at 46, as
Joelle Ertl had a nice 3-point play and another 3 was scored by Bunting. From there, UJ took control with a 15-0 run that the Comets couldn't contain too well. A series of turnovers plagued the Comets when the Jimmies went on their big run in the quarter.
Alissa Foster ended the run with a three in the waning minutes, but it was a bit too late as the Jimmies won in the end, 61-49.
Coach
Dennis Hutter felt his squad fought hard through the night and played well against a nationally ranked opponent. "I thought we played very hard. We defended very well, just did not rebound well enough. Too many offensive rebounds were given up. We also turned it over 27 times, which is way too many. It was fun to go on the road and compete with the #16 team in the country. We just have to find a way to finish stronger."
Leading for the Comets was
Joelle Ertl with 13 and
Cyan Hale with a solid 12 points.
Nicole Bunting had 9 from her 3 out of 5 performance behind the arc.
Claire Blascziek poured in 8.
Joelle Ertl was showing her tenacious side as well on the boards with 7 total to lead the team and be a co-leader for a game-high for rebounds, tying with UJ's Jenna Doyle.
Andrea Skillingstad had 5 boards. Ertl also led the team in assists with 4.
Next up on the Comets schedule will be an exhibition game against North Dakota State University on Tuesday, November 6th at 7pm at the SHAC in Fargo, ND.
