MAYVILLE, ND – The #21 Comets were too much for Waldorf on both ends of the court Friday night inside the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse. Even though MSU already beat Presentation in early December, tonight marked the beginning of the conference season in the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA), and Mayville State started things the right way by defeating the Warriors 89-52 and moving to 2-0 in NSAA play.  

The Comets only managed five points in the first four minutes of the game, but their defensive pressure made up for it and held the Warriors to six in the same stretch. That energy on the defensive end set the tone for the rest of the game and helped MSU extend their winning streak to four on the season. 

"I thought we had a great defensive effort the entire night," explained Head Coach Dennis Hutter. "We were able to force them into 20 turnovers, I thought we also had a great amount of energy for the entire game."

Jordan Zrust was able to ignite the offense with a three-pointer halfway through the first, giving the Comets an 8-6 lead and starting a 15-4 run through the last five minutes of the quarter. A 3-point play from Cyan Hale with 4:42 to play and a trey from Taylor Skjordal in the final 30 seconds of the quarter helped give the Comets a 20-10 after the first.  

Mayville State came out hot in the second quarter and shot the ball well, outscoring the Warriors 14-6 in the first three minutes. Zrust continued to pour in buckets with help from Kylee Heurung to give the Comets a 39-20 lead with five minutes to play in the half. Then a three and a basket on back-to-back possessions from Claire Blascziek with two and half minutes to play helped propel MSU to a comfortable 50-25 lead at the half.

"We shot the ball well again tonight, which is a good trend for us," said Coach Hutter. "It was nice to shoot 41 percent behind the arc and 52 percent overall. It was a quality conference win for the team." 

The Comets continued to build their lead in the second half by keeping up the pressure on the defensive end and turning Waldorf turnovers into points. Heather Elfering and Taylor Reilly helped MSU keep up the pressure down the final stretch of play, building the lead to 41 at one point and ending the game with the 37-point win over the Warriors.     

Mayville State ended up with six players scoring in double figures on the night. Jordan Zrust led the Comets with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting, Cyan Hale followed that with 13 points, Claire Blascziek with 12, Taylor Reilly added 11, and Nicole Bunting and Kylee Heurung both put in 10 points for the night. 

Tina Lair-VanMeter led the way for the Warriors with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Morgan Straight added 11 points to help pace Waldorf.  

The Comets will come back to the Lewy Lee tomorrow afternoon for another North Star matchup against Viterbo, tipoff is set for 3 p.m.