VALLEY CITY – The Valley City State women’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought battle against Mayville State Saturday, 58-53.
Valley City State drops to 6-9 overall and 4-5 in the conference. Mayville State improves to 11-3 overall and 6-2 in the NSAA.
The two teams battled throughout the first half, totaling five lead changes and seven ties, including a 28-28 tie at the break.
Early in the third quarter, Dani Schwanke hit back-to-back 3’s to gain a 34-33 Viking lead. The two traded baskets until Mayville’s Danneka Voegeli scored back-to-back buckets to widen the Comet lead at 41-38. Andranae Powns finished the third quarter with a layup to close the gap to just a point, trailing 43-42.
The Comets had a strong fourth quarter, including three 3’s from Jordan Zrust. With 3:31 to play, a six-point Viking run capped by a three-pointer from Emma Nielsen allowed the Vikings to get within three points at 56-53 with 0:55 to go. From there, time ran out on the Vikings as they couldn’t get closer and fell to the Comets 58-53.
The two were evenly matched in Satruday’s game as the Comets tallied 13 turnovers and the Vikings recorded 12. Mayville totaled five blocked shots while Valley City State tallied three. Valley City State held a narrow 38-35 rebounding advantage, including 10 on the offensive glass.
Valley City State shot 30 percent from the field (20-66), 17 percent on three-pointers (4-24), and 82 percent on free throws (9-11). Mayville State shot 42 percent on field goals (24-57), 39 percent on three-pointers (5-13), and 46 percent from the charity stripe (5-11).
Valley City State had three in double figures Saturday, led by Maara Nelson with 14 points. Taryn Dieterle scored 10 points for the Vikings, which puts her in double-figure scoring for five straight games. Dani Schwanke tallied 10 points and nine rebounds while Macey Kvilvang added eight points and nine rebounds Saturday.
Jordan Zrust paced the Comets with 17 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Danneka Voegeli added 12 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks for Mayville.
UP NEXT: Valley City State travels to Viterbo on Friday for a conference doubleheader. Women will tip at 5:30 p.m. with the men to follow at 7:30 p.m.