MAYVILLE, ND – The Mayville State University Comets women's basketball team returned home Tuesday night after a pair of road games and picked up a pre-Thanksgiving win over the University of Minnesota-Morris Cougars, 69-55, in a non-conference game at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse. The win over the Cougars marked Mayville State's sixth win at home and third non-conference win in a row.
 
"It was sloppy at times, but I feel we played good at times," Comets Head Coach Dennis Hutter said. "But we made winning plays."
 
The Cougars started hot, jumping out to a 7-3 lead, behind strong inside presence by Mia Wassink, who scored back-to-back baskets in the first two minutes. Jadyn Sondrol added a three-pointer with 7:02 to go in the opening quarter to extend the lead.
 
"It's Thanksgiving," Hutter said of the sloppy start. "But, eventually, the game hit a natural flow."
 
Mayville State then fought back. Jordan Zrust, off the bench, came in and made a couple of statement plays. Andrea Skillingstad set up a scoring play with a block on a two-pointer by Maddie Fenske. Skillingstad then sent the pass to Zrust, who found her way to the basket for the bucket, picking up a free throw chance at the same time. Zrust converted on the three-point play, and Mayville State was down 7-6 with just over six minutes to go in the opening quarter.
 
Abby Van Kempen increased the lead for the Cougars with just under four minutes left.
 
The Comets were, in the final three-and-a-half minutes of the first quarter, outscored 4-2, with Kylee Heurung scoring their only basket.
 
The second quarter started all Mayville State, with the Comets taking a 17-16 lead on a 9-3 run in the first two minutes of the quarter. Five of the nine points were scored by Claire Blascziek.
 
The Cougars fought tooth-and-nail with the Comets, as the teams exchanged leads before Mayville State closed the first half on a 12-0 run that spanned the final six minutes, with Blascziek and Alissa Foster both picking up three-pointers in the final minutes of the half. Skillingstad also had four points in the final minutes of the first half.
 
The third quarter began with the Comets striking first, as Blascziek picked up another three, just 14 seconds in, giving Mayville State the 32-18 advantage.
 
Wassink cut the lead to 10, and then Sondrol, with 6:49 to go, cut the lead to nine points, before Mayville State took control again.
 
A pair of Heurung free throws put the Comets ahead comfortably by 13 with 5:55 to go in the third, but Jay Kwateh pulled it back to 12 points with one of two free throws just under 20 seconds later.
 
Ella Van Kempen pulled the Cougars to within single-digits with a two-point basket in the final two minutes, but the Comets came out strong to finish the third quarter with an 11-point advantage, 49-38.
 
Abby Van Kempen pulled the Cougars to within five points to start the fourth quarter, capping off a 7-0 run three minutes into the final frame. Then, the two teams battled back and forth, holding the margin to single digits until Mayville State began to pull away behind an 8-2 run paced by Nicole Bunting's back-to-back three-pointers, which gave Mayville State a 63-49 lead with under three minutes to go.

The Comets scored six points in the final two minutes to secure the win.
 
Leading the Comets were three in double-figures—Blascziek with 15 points, Bunting adding 14 and Heurung with 11 points.
 
Mayville State improves to 7-1 overall and 6-0 on their home court.
 
"Now the goal is to get one percent better and be 8-1 when we play Morris again," Hutter said.
 
The Comets are off until December 3, when they travel to Morris, Minn., to take on the Cougars at 7:30 p.m.
 
"They (Morris) are such a good test for us," Hutter said. "We didn't shoot it great, but we made enough winning plays down the stretch."