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NE (VCSUVikings.com)- The Valley City State basketball teams split a conference doubleheader Friday night at Bellevue University. The Viking women earned a 66-56 victory in the opener, while the men could not overcome a poor shooting performance in a 82-61 loss to the Bruins.
Up next: VCSU continues its road trip at Dakota State University on Saturday. Women tip at 3 p.m. with the men to follow at 5 p.m. Those games can be heard on KOVC and NewsDakota.com.
Women: VCSU 66, Bellevue 56
Alli Vandal poured in a game-high 21 points Friday night as she led the Viking women to their 19th win of the season.
Bellevue held a 13-12 lead after the first quarter, but VCSU outscored the Bruins 17-13 in the second quarter to take a 29-26 halftime lead. The Vikings extended the lead to 41-35 after the third quarter.
The Bruins trimmed the Viking lead to 41-38 early in the fourth quarter, but VCSU responded with a 14-4 run over the next five minutes to build its biggest lead of the game at 55-42. Bellevue got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
VCSU shot just 36 percent overall (19-53) and 17 percent from 3-point range (2-12). Both of VCSU’s 3-pointers came in the big fourth quarter run that put the game away. The Vikings went to the free throw line 34 times and made 26 for a 77 percent night. VCSU also pulled down 18 offensive rebounds and held a 44-31 advantage on the glass.
VCSU’s two leading scorers – Georgia Williams and Lexi Lennon – combined to shoot just 5-for-27 overall but other players stepped up to fill the void.
Vandal went 6-for-11 from the field and 9-for-11 on free throws, and also pulled down nine rebounds for VCSU. Nisja Bass also had a near double-double, filling up the stat sheet with 11 points, nine rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Bellevue shot 33 percent from the field (16-49), 20 percent on 3’s (4-20) and 63 percent on free throws (20-32).
With the victory, Valley City State (19-7, 10-3 NSAA) clinches the No. 3 seed for the North Star Athletic Association Tournament later this month. With three regular season games remaining, the Vikings have a three-game lead on Bellevue (14-13, 7-6 NSAA) and would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Men: Bellevue 82, VCSU 61
Valley City State’s men struggled to make shots Friday night in a 82-61 loss to No. 21-ranked Bellevue.
The Vikings shot just 35 percent from the field (22-63) and 25 percent on 3’s (4-16) as they fell to 14-13 overall and 6-7 in conference play. Bellevue improves its record to 18-8 overall and 10-3 in the North Star Athletic Association.
The Vikings fell behind 19-7 in the early going and were never able to make a serious comeback. Bellevue led 34-21 at halftime and coasted in the second half.
Austin Dunbar led the Vikings with his conference-leading 10th double-double of the season, posting 18 points and 12 rebounds on Friday.
Jayden Ferguson added 16 points and seven boards, and Rashad Satahoo had 15 points. Satahoo and Ferguson – VCSU’s two leading scorers this season – combined to go just 9-for-33 on field goals Friday as part of VCSU’s tough shooting night.
Elwood Ellenson added six points and pulled down 11 rebounds in the loss.
Nick Hilton made six 3’s and scored a game-high 27 points to lead Bellevue, which only had two turnovers in the game. The Bruins shot 47 percent from the field (34-73), 36 percent on 3’s (9-25) and 56 percent at the free throw line (5-9).
VCSU was perfect at the free throw line, going 13-for-13 in the loss.