MADISON, S.D. -- One year after finishing 19-8 and falling to number two seeded Bellevue in the North Star Athletic Association championship game, Coach Dennis Hutter's Mayville State women's basketball team is the coaches preseason pick to win the conference championship this season. The Comets edged out Bellevue by two points, splitting the first-place votes with the Bruins evenly. All eight coaches vote in the preseason poll.
"It's always nice when your peers feel like you have a strong team," Hutter said. "We don't take a lot of stock in preseason polls, simply because so much can change between now and March. We just want to keep getting one percent better every day as a team."
Hutter says the league will be different this year.
"Our league will be much stronger," he said.
The Comets return Kylee Heurung, Claire Blascziek and Nicole Bunting, three athletes who all averaged 10-plus points per game for the Comets last season. In addition, Heurung averaged eight rebounds per game for the Comets.
A strong returning core also is back for the Comets, except for Joelle Ertl, who graduated last season. Ertl returns to the Comets, however, as a graduate assistant coach under Hutter.
The Comets have started the season 1-0, with a convincing 78-47 win over Brandon University on Saturday. They will return home this weekend to take on Providence University College on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's game will tip off at 5:30 p.m., with Sunday's game set to begin at 1 p.m. Both games will air on Comet Radio and Stretch Internet.