The Comet women's basketball team is ready to begin the 15th season behind Head Coach Dennis Hutter this weekend when they square off against Brandon University on Saturday in the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse. Last season, Mayville State went 19-8 overall and had an 11-3 mark in North Star Athletic Association games, and the Comets were able to be crowned the NSAA regular season conference champions.

Mayville State will have to fill the big shoes of Joelle Ertl, the standout point guard for the Comets the last four seasons is now a graduate assistant coach for the team. Ertl, who averaged over 14 points and six rebounds a game in 2018-19, was the lone senior on last year's roster, so the Comets will bring back several players with a lot of experience playing together.

Coach Hutter will look for leadership and rely heavily on the nine seniors, Claire Blascziek, Cyan Hale, Nicole Bunting, Taylor Skjordal, Taylor Shamp, Alissa Foster, Sara Herzog, Haley Anderson, and Andrea Skillingstad, to provide a sense of urgency early on. With only two new members added to this year's roster, fans should see plenty of familiar faces from the 2019-20 women's basketball team. Jordan Zrust (Fr., Buffalo, Minn.) and Erin Walcker (Fr., Beulah, N.D.) are the only two newcomers that Comet fans will see on the court for the season, both will compete for playing time and add nice depth to the Comet backcourt.

Coach Hutter and his staff are eager to get the season started, the team will be taking a consistent approach to the upcoming season and will look for leadership to be a big factor in the team's success moving forward.

"We are excited to get the 2019-20 season under way. The players have been working very hard this pre-season, and for the first few weeks of practice.  We are focused on trying to be and remain a TEAM throughout the year," Coach Hutter explained. "We know that the season will being many ups and downs and we want to make sure we have great leadership in the locker room and on the basketball floor, and that we stay together as a TEAM throughout all of it. We are focused on our effort and attitude every day, and trying to get 1% better every time we step on the floor."

The Comets begin their season this weekend with a home matchup against Brandon University on Saturday, October 19 at 4 p.m. The team will follow that with games against Providence College University on Saturday, October 26th and Sunday, October 27th. These games will be double-headers with the Men's Basketball team playing after the Women's team. Saturday's tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. and Sunday's contest will start at 1 p.m. The team will then host the University of Jamestown in the Lewy Lee on November 1st, then the Comets will have two more home games in November against Concordia on November 15th and Minnesota-Morris on the 26th before hitting the road for the month of December. Mayville State will then settle in to the North Star portion of their schedule in the second week of January with a matchup against Waldorf on Friday, January 10 and Viterbo on Saturday, January 11.

Comet fans can view a complete 2019-20 women's basketball schedule here.