MAYVILLE, ND – The Mayville State University Comets returned home Friday night, taking on North Star Athletic Association foe Dickinson State in the first of a back-to-back home conference weekend. The Comets used a strong first half offensive push and a strong second half defensive push to down the Blue Hawks 84-48 for Mayville State's seventh conference win of the season and 18^th win overall of the 2019-2020 campaign.

"It was nice to be home," Comets head coach Dennis Hutter said. "There was a great crowd tonight as well."

Back-to-back three pointers by Nicole Bunting, both on passes from Kylee Heurung, pushed Mayville State to an early 6-4 lead, after falling behind 4-3 in the first minute. Danielle Wallace had two buckets in the first minute to start the Blue Hawk charge.

Heurung then took over the shooting charge—following up Bunting's threes with her own threes—on back-to-back-to-back opportunities. The run by Heurung sparked an 11-2 run, with all 11 points by the Brainerd, Minn., junior. Cyan Hale pushed the lead to 13 points with a bucket with just under four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The three-point success continued as Bunting hit another three with 3:23 left in the opening frame, which, at the time, opened up a 16-point lead for Mayville State. Shali Sheridan stopped the run with a free-throw make with 2:45 left in the quarter. Then, a 9-4 run closed out the first quarter for Dickinson State, with the Comets holding an 11-point lead at the end of the first.

Straight out of the chute in the second quarter, freshman Jordan Zrust nailed a three-pointer, giving the Comets the full momentum coming out of the first quarter break.

Danielle Wallace pulled the Blue Hawks to within 10 points with just over a minute gone in the second quarter, but then a 4-0 run by the Comets extended the lead to 14 points, capped off by a huge three-pointer by Comet senior Taylor Skjordal with 6:06 to go in the half.

After Dakota Dosch and Andrea Skillingstad exchanged buckets, Zrust came in clutch—again—hitting a three pointer with 5:03 to go in the half, giving Mayville State a 17-point lead again. Hale extended the lead to 20 with a three-pointer of her own with 4:28 to go in the half.

The Comets closed the half on a 10-4 run over the final 2:37, including threes by Skjordal and Claire Blascziek.

To start the third quarter, both teams traded free-throws, before Mayville State made a run. Starting with a free-throw by Heurung, the Comets went on a 9-0 run, taking the 66-33 lead to just under five minutes to go in the third quarter, before Dickinson State was able to answer, cutting the lead to 31 points. Clutch free-throws by the Comets closed out the third quarter, with Mayville State ahead 72-37 heading into the final 10 minutes.

Skjordal continued her hot hand in the fourth quarter, knocking down a two-point bucket with 18 seconds gone in the fourth to start the run again for Mayville State.

Ashlie Watts answered for Dickinson State, nailing a three-pointer less than 30 seconds later.

The two teams settled into a defensive battle, with each team answering each other's buckets late. Back-to-back threes by Sydney Magsam and Sara Herzog pushed the Comets to a 39-point lead with just under five minutes left. Lindsey Peterson drained a three-pointer with 3:28 to go for Dickinson State, the final bucket either team would see in Friday night's tilt.

Four Comets finished in double-figures, led by Heurung and Bunting, who had 16 points each. Hale finished with 12 points and Skjordal finished with 10. Mayville State finished a phenomenal 16-for-34 from the three-point line and went 12-of-18 from the free-throw line.

"We shot the ball very well tonight, going 16-for-34 behind the arc," Hutter said. "We also defended very well again tonight."

Mayville State had 19 assists and turned the ball over only 13 times.

"I really liked our floor game tonight," Hutter said.

The Comets will host Valley City State on Saturday at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse.