VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Women’s: VCSU 74, Presentation 68
In the first game of the night, the Vikings’ women were able to hold off Presentation by a final score of 74-68. The first half included large runs for both teams. VCSU got out to a 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Presentation rallied to outscore the Vikings 20-10 in the second quarter. Saints junior center Britt Seymour had a very impressive first 20 minutes getting a double-double with 12 points and ten rebounds.
The second half saw more consistent offensive production from the Vikings led by freshman guard Ashlyn Diemert. She found a lot of baskets by cutting in the paint and finishing close to the hoop. From there, they were able to build their offense outward and knock down some clutch three-pointers to hold off the Saints.
Diemert led the Vikings with 17 points on 7-16 shooting and five rebounds. Senior guard Emma Nielsen had a sneaky-good game finishing with 11 points on a team-high 34 minutes of action. Seymour was Presentation’s leading scorer for the evening finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds, but she fouled out with just a few minutes remaining. Freshman guard Kylee Wadsworth made four three-pointers coming off the bench and finished with 14. Senior forward Jordan Kulczyk finished with 11 points on 4-4 shooting.
VCSU improves to 4-3 in conference play and 7-10 overall. Presentation falls to 1-5 in league play and 4-14 overall.
Men’s: VCSU 84, Presentation 65
The offense came early and often in the Vikings’ men’s dominant 84-65 win over Presentation. Junior guard Duoth Gach continued his great shooting from a night ago and put up ten first half points for VCSU. In the second half, it was all about the bench. Senior guard Hunter Sand came off the bench and exploded with a 31-point performance. The Saints were unable to defend him when he drove to the paint or when he was open on the perimeter. He didn’t take any bad shots and simply took advantage of what the defense gave him. Sophomore guard Cayden Rickard was also unguardable. Presentation kept trying to heavily defend him when he had the ball and every time he made his defender look foolish with some flashy dribbling and finishing at the rack.
Sand’s 31 points came on 11-14 shooting, 6-8 shots going from beyond the arc and making 3-4 from the free throw line. Gach and Rickard finished with 12 points apiece to help VCSU’s bench outscore Presentation’s bench 66-20. The Saints were led by senior small forward Travez Nyx who finished with 15 points. Freshman guard LJ Brown had with 14 points and junior guard Dwight Felton finished with 11 points.
The Vikings improve to 3-4 in conference play and 12-8 overall. As for the Saints, they fall to 1-6 in conference play and 8-12 overall.
Both teams play on the road next weekend against the same opponents from this weekend, but in a different order. The VCSU women will play Presentation on Friday, January 28th at 5:30 p.m. from Aberdeen with the men’s game to follow at 7:30p.m. On Saturday, January 29th, they will play Mayville State again from Mayville with the women starting at 3:00 p.m. and the men following at 5:00 p.m.