Grand Forks, N.D. – Mayville State Comets Women's Basketball took a short road trip north for an exhibition game against the Division I University of North Dakota Fight Hawks on Tuesday night.

"It's always fun when you get to play in a bigger arena but honestly I felt our crowd traveled so well and it felt so much like a home game," said head coach Ryan Carpenter. "It was so much fun to have that type of environment on the road so huge shout out to our fans for showing out tonight."

Last year, the Comets took down the Fighting Hawks for the first time in Mayville State history, winning 75-68.

Despite an outstanding effort from Mackenzie Hughes and the Comets, the Hawks went on a 18-0 run in the last 6 and a half minutes to get the win 73-61. The Hawks trailed by as much as 10 at one point in the second half.

Here's how it happened:

1st Quarter:

• UND scores first and gets out to 6-0 lead in first 3 minutes of play
• Alex Page got the first points for the Comets at the 6-minute mark nailing one from behind the arc
• 10-5 Hawks after the first 5 minutes of play
• Back-to-back layups by Page and Mackenzie Hughes get the Comets within 2
• 17-11 UND with 2 minutes remaining; Comets just 1-7 from 3
• Misti Zempel ties it at 18 with 30 seconds to go
• Back-to-back layups by UND puts them up 22-18 after the first 10 minutes
• Hughes & Page both with 7 points

2nd Quarter:

• Hughes sinks a deep 3 to kick the 2^nd quarter off followed by a 3 by Zempel to tie the game 24-24
• Hughes nails another deep three to take the lead 29-27, she has 14 points
• Tie game 32-32 after the first five minutes
• No one scores over the next 3 minutes
• Hughes scores her 20^th point of the game and the Comets lead 36-32 with 2 minutes to go
• North Dakota does not make a basket for over 5 minutes
• Comets lead 36-33 heading into the locker room
• Only four Comets score – Hughes (20), Page (9), Zempel (5), Jes Mertens (2)

3rd Quarter:

• Hannah Stark nails a three to get the Comets started in the second half
• Hughes gets another 3 to drop and puts the Comets up 46-39 with their largest lead of the night – Hughes with 25 points
• Mayville State has 15 steals on the night halfway through the 3^rd quarter, Hughes has 8 of them
• Mertens gets a deep three to extend the Comets lead 49-42
• Neubauer gets her 4^th foul of the game, Comets up by 10
• Comets go 4 minutes without scoring
• Hawks finish the quarter on a 7-0 run to cut their deficit to 3 – 52-49

4th Quarter:

• Mertens forces a turnover and sends a pass to Hughes for an easy lay up to start the 4^th quarter off
• Hughes follows it up with her 9^th steal and lays it in to bring her scoring to 32 points just 1 minute into the 4^th
• Page gets her 4^th foul with 8 and a half minutes still to go
• Hawks take the lead 63-61 as UND's Schiller gets her 5^th bucket from behind the arc at the 5-minute mark
• This was only the second lead change of the game as the Comets had led for 22 minutes
• UND goes on a 18-0 run in the last 6 minutes and a half minutes to win 73-61

"We simply ran out of gas tonight. Playing the style we game planned for on only two days of rest after a back-to-back was going to be a challenge," added Carpenter. "Obviously it would have been awesome to win but I could not be more proud of how our girls competed tonight. There are a lot of positives that we can take from tonight heading into the 2nd semester."

Team Leaders:
- Mackenzie Hughes - 32 points, 9 steals
- Alex Page - 11 points, 6 rebounds
- Misti Zempel - 8 points, 5 rebounds
- Hannah Stark - 5 points, 4 steals, 6 rebounds
- Jes Mertens - 5 points, 4 assists

Overall:
- Just 5 Comets score
- 22-67 from the field (32.8%)
- 7-32 behind the arc (21.9%)
- Points in the paint 30
- Largest lead was 10 - mid 3rd quarter
- Largest run was 6-0

"By the end of this month we will already have logged 10,000 bus miles logged so the rest could literally not come at a better time for us," commented Carpenter. "The first part of the season has been a grind and we had lots of ups and downs so far. We need to use those first two games back [Doane & Midland] to help build on the positives we saw tonight and help us develop some more consistency as we head into the bulk of our conference slate."

The Comets will have a much needed 12 days off before they hit the road for one last non-conference road trip of the season. They head to Bellevue, Nebraska to play in the Bellevue Classic. They will take on Doane University (8-2) on Sunday, December 29th & Midland (1-10) on Monday, December 30th. Both times are TBA at this time.

For full schedule details visit: https://msucomets.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule