MAYVILLE, ND – The Comets returned home for another weekend stretch of NSAA conference games, taking on the Dakota State Lady Trojans on Friday night. It was a career night for one of the Comets in a hard fought battle on the home court from a feisty Lady Trojan squad.It was also a return home for Dakota State's Head Coach, David Moe, an MSU graduate and a former assistant coach under Dennis Hutter for the Comets. 

The Comets had a difficult time finding the basket to begin with, going 0-8 on their first shots from the floor and falling into a 10-0 deficit over the first five minutes of play. MSU finished off the quarter by spreading out the offense among six different teammates with Naomi Torgerson finally breaking the ice with a layup at the 4:33 mark. The Comets were able to go on a 12-8 run to shrink the Lady T's lead to six, Comets down 18-12.

The momentum continued for the Comets to begin the second quarter, sparked by a Torgerson three-pointer and some stingy defense on the Trojans. A key 7-0 run by the MSU helped lift them into the lead after an Andi Gayner bucket, two free throws by Joelle Ertl, and a 3-point play from Andrea Skillingstad. The Comets ended up putting in 27 points in the quarter and limited the Trojans to only 13, going into the half with a 39-31 lead.  

It was a fairly balanced third quarter, but the Comets kept ramping up the intensity. Naomi Torgerson led a big charge for the Comets midway through the quarter, as she scored 10 straight points, including two of her five 3's on the night. It was a key surge as the Comets' built their lead built 13 with ten minutes left to play.

The Trojans battled back however, going to the free-throw line often and getting plenty of points from the charity stripe, over 23 alone in the second half, with 40 trips to the line during the entire game. They narrowed the Comets lead to just six with 4:06 left to play. The Comets were able to fend off the Trojans by hitting their key free throws down the stretch as the Trojans were forced to foul and stop the clock. In the end, the Comets came out with the win, 94-85. 

Leading the Comets and also all scorers was Naomi Torgerson with a career high 32 points. She was 5-8 from 3-point land and shot 11-18 from the field, plus she went 5-7 from the free throw line. Torgerson also led the team in rebounds with seven to round out her top-notch performance. She was supported with the 17-point efforts from both Joelle Ertl and Andi Gayner. The Lady T's had a strong balanced effort as well from five of their players in double figures. They were led by Jamie Tebben with 19, Raven Patton with 16, Britley Plautz with 15, Lindsey Vogl had 13 and Kennedy Wagner rounded out the effort with ten. Plautz put up a double-double night with 14 rebounds to lead her team in that category.  

The Comets stay home to take on Bellevue University on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm, celebrating Senior Day and Alumni Day.