WATERTOWN, S.D. (PCSaints.com) – The No. 1 seed Comets of Mayville State breezed past the No. 5 seed Saints of Presentation College 71-44 to open the first game of the day of the North Star Final Four. The Comets stung the Saints’ offense as they held the Saints to a season-low 44 points in the win. With the loss, the Saints’ season ends at 12-19 overall, while the Comets move onto the Championship game tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. to play the winner of Valley City/Bellevue.
How It Happened –
After the first ten minutes of action, the Comets built up a 21-11 lead over the Saints of Presentation College in the opening game of the North Star Final Four from the Watertown Civic Arena powered by MSU’s Joelle Ertl and Nicole Bunting’s five points apiece. The Comets continued to pour on the points as they opened the second quarter on an 11-5 run to push their lead up to 18. Both teams traded possessions back-and-forth for the final 4:10 left in the second quarter as both team entered the locker room by a score of 36-19, in favor of the Comets.
Mayville gained their largest lead of the game thus far after a Taylor Skjordal lay up to push them to a 30-point advantage with 3:00 minutes left in the third. However, after back-to-back buckets by Mayville in the first two minutes of the final quarter, both teams went dry offensively as neither team scored in a four-minute span. After a lay-up and pair of free throws by Kylee Keurung, the Comets built up a 31-point lead – their largest of the game. Despite shooting a season-low 21.4 field goal percentage, the Saints closed out the game on 7-4 run but would eventually fall to the Comets by a score of 71-44.
For the Saints, Allison Cox (JR/Mission, SD) led the team with 16 points as she went 5-for-8 from the floor. Tone Oglesby (SO/Detroit, MI) added ten points of her own, while Victoria Stewart (SR/Oceanside, CA) and Jada Campbell (FR/Sioux Falls, SD) added a team-high seven rebounds. As a team, the Saints shot 21.4 percent from the field, 10.0 from beyond the arc, and 60.0 from the foul line.
The Comets had four players in double-figure scoring with Nicole Bunting leading the way with 14. Joelle Ertl and Claire Blascziek added 12 points each, while Kylee Heurung rounded out the scorers in double-digits with 11. Ertl and Bunting led the team in rebounds as they grabbed nine apiece. As a team, the Comets shot 38.5 percent from the field, 28.6 from distance and 82.1 from the foul line.
Post game:
https://dehayf5mhw1h7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/238/2019/02/25065015/2-23-19-PC-WBB-vs-Mayville-St-Postgame.mp3