VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Valley City State University women’s basketball team earned the right to host a playoff game at the bubble this week. the game against Bellevue was scheduled to take place on Tuesday night, however with the brutal weather the game was moved to Wednesday night. After a well contested match up, it was Bellevue coming away with the road playoff 61-52 win.

In the first quarter the Bruins were getting excellent shooting from beyond the arc from Miranda Hennings as she would sink a pair of three pointers to set a tone for her team. She would finish the first half 3-6 from long range. Emma Nielsen did her best to keep VCSU within striking distance as she also finished the first half 3-6 from 3-point range. Taryn Dieterle provided the rebounds for her Vikings team as she finished with 8 total boards in the first half. Despite the success, VCSU found themselves trailing 35-25 at the break.

In the second half, VCSU started to chip away at the deficit with a strong performance from Adriana Torres. She only had 4-points through three quarters but it was her compete level and 4 rebounds helping the Vikings get stops and try their best to get momentum on their side. Torres would finish the game with a team high 12-points. Things seemed to be going in the right direction for the Vikings until the last few moments of the third quarter, as Ashtyn Arnold of Bellevue hit a massive 3-pointer to give her team the 51-39 lead after three quarters. You could just feel the gut punch in the building after that shot. Credit to VCSU as they refused to go away. They would cut the Bellevue lead to just 4 late in the second half. Unfortunately for the Vikings, the Bruins would hit their free throws down the stretch to pull away on the scoreboard and come away with the 61-52 win and move on in the playoffs.

With the loss the Vikings season comes to an end. They finish with a record of 10-15 overall and a conference record of 7-7.