VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- The Comets came into the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse in Valley City with a tall, but attainable, task ahead of them--beat Valley City to win the NSAA Regular Season Title. And, behind a 41-point second half performance, the Comets did just that, taking down the Valley City State Vikings, 72-70, in Saturday's conference finale for both teams. The win propelled the Comets to the conference regular season title and the number one seed heading into next week's NSAA Conference Tournament.
"I am so proud of every player and coach on this team," Head Coach
Dennis Hutter said. "They deserve this championship."
The turning point of Saturday's game, for Mayville State, was the fourth quarter. After playing tight for the entire first half, and being outscored in the third quarter, the Comets surged in the final ten minutes.
Down 56-48 with ten minutes to play, the Comets knew that they needed a strong performance to pull off the win.
"I thought we showed great toughness in the second half when we got down," Hutter said. "We did not panic, we just kept chipping away."
Back-to-back threes by
Claire Blascziek and
Joelle Ertl began the comeback, pulling Mayville State to within one point with 6:23 to go in the quarter. Hannah Schlecht would widen the lead to three for Valley City State, but
Kylee Heurung answered with a bucket 48 seconds later to pull the Comets to within one. Schlecht again made it a three point game just 20 seconds later, but then Mayville State went on a quick 4-0 run in just over a minute to take the lead 62-61 with four minutes left.
Valley City's Dierra Diegel hit a pair of free-throws with 3:21 left to pull Valley City State ahead by one, followed by a pair of free-throws by Gabby Martin to extend the lead to three. A three-pointer by Ertl tied things up with just over two minutes to go, and then, with just over 90 seconds left, Ertl nailed a pair of free-throws to put the Comets ahead by two. Mackenzie Huber would tie it on free-throws for Valley City with 1:17 left, leaving things looking like they were destined for overtime.
With 29 seconds left, Heurung picked up a defensive rebound and was immediately fouled by Alli Vandal, sending Heurung to the free-throw line, where she hit back-to-back free throws to put Mayville State up 69-67.Â
Valley City called a timeout, setting up a play by Dierra Diegel, which would have tied the game, but Diegel missed and
Andrea Skillingstad was able to collect the defensive rebound. Schlecht would then foul the Comets, sending Ertl to the line with just six seconds left. She made both throws, putting the Comets ahead by four. Diegel would make a trey with two seconds left to make it 71-70 in favor of the Comets, but a
Nicole Bunting free-throw seconds later sealed the win.
"We were able to get some stops down the stretch by rebounding the ball," Hutter said. "We did not do that very well the first three quarters."
Mayville State had three players in double figures Saturday afternoon--Ertl finished with 24, Heurung with 17 and Blascziek with 12. Heurung also had 12 rebounds in the contest, registering a double-double.
Mackenzie Huber led Valley City State with 21 points and seven rebounds.
With the win, Mayville State improved to 11-3 in NSAA play and 17-7 overall.
They will host the number eight seed on Tuesday at the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse in Mayville in the opening round of the NSAA Conference Tournament. The final two days of the tournament will shift to Watertown, S.D.
Â
