From VCSU Athletics
VALLEY CITY, N.D. (VCSUAthletics.com) – The Valley City State women’s basketball team defeated Dickinson State 67-61 with a fourth quarter comeback effort in the regular season finale Friday night.
With the Vikings trailing 52-45 early in the fourth quarter, VCSU took a 16-4 run sparked by back-to-back 3’s from Emma Nielsen and Taryn Dieterle. Key 3-point plays from Adriana Torres and Ashlyn Diemert helped VCSU’s momentum down the stretch, and Diemert went 4-for-4 on free throws in the final seconds to ice the victory.
“We talked a lot about defense and practiced hard all week. In the second half we really wanted to play and I’m proud of how we stepped up on offense once we started getting stops on the defensive end,” said assistant coach Taylor Henningsgard.
Valley City State finishes the regular season with a 10-14 record overall and a 7-7 record in the NSAA. Dickinson State ends the regular season at 9-21 overall and 7-7 record in conference play.
The Vikings will be the No. 3 seed for the NSAA Tournament after owning the head-to-head tiebreaker with Dickinson State. VCSU will host No. 6 Bellevue in a first-round playoff game on Tuesday, Feb. 22. Tip is scheduled for 6 p.m.
“We are very proud of these girls. A lot of them have been working hard to get a home playoff game so it’s here and we got it,” said Henningsgard. “We can’t stop. We’re not done yet. We are going to use this momentum heading into the conference tournament.”
VCSU committed 15 turnovers in the first half and trailed by as much as 15 points at 25-10 early in the second quarter. VCSU continued to battle back and trailed 35-26 at halftime. From there, the Vikings forced 14 Blue Hawk turnovers in the second half. VCSU hit three 3’s and finished with eight free throws in the third quarter to close the gap to 48-45 before the game-changing fourth quarter.
VCSU shot 36 percent on field goals Friday night (21-59), 25 percent on 3-pointers (6-24) and 95 percent from the charity stripe (19-20). Dickinson State shot 42 percent from the field (25-60), 23 percent from beyond the arc (5-22), and 86 percent on free throws (6-7).
The Vikings held the rebounding advantage 43-31, including 14 on the offensive glass.
Torres led the Vikings with 14 points and seven rebounds Friday while Diemert chipped in 12 points and dished out three assists. Dieterle added 10 points and seven rebounds while Nielsen added nine points.
Dickinson State’s Courtney Olson scored a game-high 24 points and added five rebounds and two blocks Friday. Shali Sheridan added 11 points and a team-best six rebounds for the Blue Hawks.
UP NEXT: VCSU will host No. 6 Bellevue for the opening round of the NSAA Tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 22. Tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Bubble. Dickinson State will be the No. 4 seed and host No. 5 Viterbo at 7 p.m. CT in Dickinson.