SIOUX CITY, IOWA – Valley City State dropped their final game at the Holiday Classic Sunday as Briar Cliff outscored the Vikings 76-60.
Mackenzie Huber led the way with a double-double Sunday, tallying 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Vikings. Freshman Taryn Dieterle added 17 points for Valley City State after going 5-for-5 from the field and 7-for-10 at the free throw line.
Valley City State shot 37 percent from the field (21-57), 7 percent on 3’s (1-14), and 74 percent on free throws (17-23). Briar Cliff shot 41 percent from the field (26-64), 45 percent on 3’s (14-31), and 77 percent on free throws (10-13).
Briar Cliff tallied 16 steals in the game to the Vikings’ six. The Vikings out-rebounded the Chargers 44-31 and picked up six blocks Sunday.
The Vikings had a slow start as Briar Cliff led by as much as 10 points in the first quarter with 5:31 on the clock. The Vikings began to heat up as they scored the next seven points, cutting the Charger lead to three with 1:14 left in the first quarter.
The Vikings kept their momentum into the second quarter as they picked up their first lead of the game on a Dieterle free throw with 4:47 on the clock. From there, the Vikings would only allow one Charger basket to hold onto a 26-24 halftime lead.
The Chargers commanded the floor coming out of the locker room, scoring 29 points in the third quarter. With 3:26 left on the clock in the third, a Dieterle basket gave Valley City State the drive to score six straight points to get within three points of the Chargers. Briar Cliff picked up a 3 pointer at the buzzer to regain a double figure lead at the end of the third quarter, 53-43.
With the Vikings looking to come back in the fourth quarter, they would get as close as six points on a basket from Allie Critchley with 7:09 to go. That would be as close as they could get though as Valley City State fell to Briar Cliff 76-60.
The Chargers were led by Konnor Sudmann with 24 points and four assists, including five 3’s. Alyssa Carley added 22 points and Payton Slaughter tallied 16 for Briar Cliff.
Valley City State falls to 3-6 overall while Briar Cliff improves to 4-11 this season.
UP NEXT: Valley City State continues their stretch on the road as they face Bethany Lutheran College on Saturday, Jan. 4, at 3 p.m. They then travel to University of Jamestown to take on the Jimmies on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 6 p.m.
The Vikings will return home to resume conference play on Friday, Jan. 10, against Dakota State University at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 11, against Bellevue University at 3 p.m. Both games are scheduled to be doubleheaders with men’s games to follow.