MAYVILLE, ND – The Mayville State University Comets women's basketball team opened up their 2019-20 regular season Saturday afternoon with a matchup against the Brandon University Bobcats at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse in Mayville. The Comets pulled ahead early and never looked back, cruising to a 78-47 win over the Bobcats in non-conference action. The win was Mayville State's first of the season.
"It was a win," head coach Dennis Hutter said. "It was the first game of the year, you didn't know what you were going to get."
The difference maker in the game was a 25-6 third quarter by Mayville State.
Each Comet in the lineup saw the floor Saturday afternoon.
"Hopefully everybody got a taste," Hutter said of his team.
The first half was all Mayville State, as the Comets led from the later parts of the first quarter.
Brandon had led 13-12, but a three-pointer by freshman Jordan Zrust, with 2:36 to go in the first quarter, put the Comets back into the lead 15-13, one they would never relinquish.
A 5-0 run by the Comets to start the second quarter, led by a pair of free throws by Claire Blaszciek and a three by Kylee Heurung, made it a seven-point game with 9:27 to go in the half.
The seven-point lead eventually evaporated to a one-point lead on a free throw by Hailey Maas with 7:31 to go in the half.
Zrust then showed her skills again, draining another three-pointer with 5:42 to go in the half.
"That's what she's capable of doing," Hutter said. "She's a freshman, so she's learning how to play."
He calls Zrust a 'key player' for the Comets.
Blaszciek scored five points in the final minutes of the half, and Cyan Hale ended the half with a three-pointer at the buzzer.
"Claire, I thought, really started to take over the game," Hutter said of Blascziek's play towards the end of the quarter.
It only took 45 seconds into the third quarter for the Comets to start the scoring, as Nicole Bunting nailed back-to-back free throws after being fouled by Chelsea Misskey. Less than two minutes later, Bunting again etched her name into the scorebook with a three-pointer off a rebound by the Comets and a pass from Heurung, pulling the Comets ahead 49-28. In all, in the first five-and-a-half minutes, Bunting scored 12 points.
Hale extended the lead to 33 points with 4:15 left in the third on a bucket by Cyan Hale.
Five points from Heather Elfering and a three by Alissa Foster made it a 35-point Comet lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Brandon University dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring the Comets in a defensive battle 13-9.
Two Comets finished in double figures for scoring—Bunting with 20 points and Blaszciek with 10 points. Heurung had a team-high nine rebounds for the Comets.
The Comets forced Brandon into committing 23 turnovers.
"I thought the defensive effort, after the first quarter, got pretty good," Hutter said.
Mayville State will return home next Saturday and Sunday to take on Providence University College. Saturday's game will tip off at 5:30 p.m., while Sunday's game will begin at 1 p.m.