VALLEY CITY, ND (NewsDakota.com) This one was fun to remember.
On February 27th, 2011, the Viking women had knocked off Minot State, and were ready to hit the road for the Dakota Athletic Conference tournament title game, planning a road trip to Spearfish to take on the top-seeded Black Hills State University Yellowjackets.
The plans changed.
Jamestown College went to Spearfish that day, and walked out of their arena with an upset win, moving the fourth-seeded Jimmies to the title tilt as well.
And the Vikings saw the writing on the wall: the Jimmies in the Bubble for the title, and the trip.
You could not write a better finish for women’s basketball at the end of the DAC-era. Two rivals 30-minutes apart with it all on the line.
The Vikings finished the story, carving out a path to their first-ever berth in the NAIA national tournament, and now, into the Viking Hall of Fame.
It’s only fitting they would enter on the heels of a season that saw another Viking women’s team, the Viking volleyball team, make their first appearance in a national. And, like the volleyball team will be remembered years from now, the 2010-11 Viking women’s basketball team will be remembered for some great individual stories that culminated in the achievement they will be honored for this fall.
Narrowing it to five is hard, but I took a shot at it. From one broadcaster’s perspective, here’s the five team members that make the story of 2010-11 pop in this edition of Cinco de Cunningham.
5) Jacki Mitchell
I personally do not believe I have ever seen a player max out every bit of basketball potential that the player has like I saw with Jacki during her time at VCSU.
Jacki came to Valley City State as a good player from the Hope-Page Wolverines, a good team in a good district in Class B North Dakota. I had watched her play in Barnes County Tournaments, District tournaments, and so on.
When she arrived, she was a 5’9″ with a lot to prove if she were to be a college basketball player.
In 2007-08, the Vikings finished 0-14 in DAC play. Andrea Hummel, a sophomore on that Viking team, talked to me at the start of fall workouts the in 2008 and said simply, “That isn’t happening again.”
Jacki was a freshman on the 07-08 team. She didn’t play much on a team that went 0-14 in the league.
She stayed with it.
In 2009-10, Abby Rittenhouse led the Vikings in scoring, a talented transfer post player with size and skill that would take the Vikings to the next level.
Then, she went down with a head injury, another in a series of concussions that forced her out of college basketball.
With no big returning post player (more on that later), Jacki put a mouthguard in, then sacrificed her 5’9″ frame to DAC post-players every night in league play. She played 26.6 minutes a night, took every hit the league could dish out to her, and adopted the “heart over height” mentality that players could use more of today, and that the Fargo Davies Eagles just rode to a state AA girls title in March without a post player.
In Page, there’s a retired jersey and Katie Richards picture on the wall. Jacki didn’t win a national title, but I’ve always said her picture should be there as a symbol of what grit, just plain grit, can do.
4) Caitlyn Wojahn
The Vikings knew, after the 09-10 season, that the game would have to change. With Rittenhouse unable to play, and prospects for a quick offensive fix in the post a struggle to find, the Vikings found a new recipe.
Play end line to end line. Ninety-four feet.
Enter the point guard, Caitlyn Wojahn.
Caitlyn ran point on every full-court defense the Vikings threw at their opponent, and it became clear, in a different game with the Jimmies, that the effort could be successful.
Jamestown College came over to the Bubble February 9th with one the best bigs in the league in Bridget Schuneman. Jamestown College was 17-6 and on par with any team the Vikings would see in their league that season.
The Jimmie guards finished 3-23 from the field, and the posts ran into early foul trouble against the Vikings speed in an 80-59 Viking drubbing of the Jimmies at the midway point of the conference season.
Caitlyn simply found a way to create ball pressure, wear down opposing guards, and come out of nowhere to turn around an opponent’s offensive flow. Point guards are considered quarterbacks, and she was the true measure of that analogy throughout the season.
3) Amanda Brown
Amanda Brown continually expanded her offensive game while at VCSU, and it showed, not just in her numbers, but what her teammates were able to do also. She scored double figures in nine of her last 10 games in 2010-11.
The game she failed to reach doubles, her teammates had covered. Amanda scored seven in the semi-final win over Minot State.
If you treated Brown like a four, she took you to the perimeter. If you treated her like a three, she beat you inside. If you doubled down, you were in real trouble, since Bearstail was drooling while open on the three-point like somewhere (more on that later)
Either way, Amanda could affect the game, with or without the ball in her hands.
Amanda is the only Viking from this team going in this year as an individual, and that shows just how much her leadership, skill, and commitment meant to Viking basketball. Her Viking resume includes being ninth all time in school history in scoring, 11th in rebounding (she had three crucial offensive boards against Minot State in the semis), ninth in assists, and sixth in steals, reflecting how each Viking had to commit to both sides of the ball all season.
And Amanda was also a freshman on that 07-08 team that finished 0-14 in the league. And she also stuck with it.
2) Kristin Bearstail
Some players make a mark on their team over four years. Kristin did it in one.
There’s a reason why I have Kristin just ahead (and I mean just ahead) of Brown on this list, and I’m guessing my number one would likely disagree with me on where I’ve placed her, but when I think of all-time turning points in Viking games I’ve seen, there’s one I will never forget.
Kristin finished the tournament 11-24 from the three-point line, and scored 22 against Sterling, KS in the NAIA tournament game on 9-18 shooting. She put four games of double figures together to end the season, echoing her first four of the year.
So, why do I have her at #2?
The shot.
If you were there you likely remember it. If you weren’t, allow me to explain.
The Jimmies had a bit of control of the DAC title game to start. The house was absolutely packed, so packed that a person well connected with Jamestown College then (I’ll keep his name out of it), told me after the game that JC was “beat when we walked through the door”. Ironically, the game may have been a big help for what is now UJ. The effect of the crowd in that game furthered conversations about the Jimmies finding their own space for home games and exiting the Civic Center.
So, all the crowd needed was a big moment.
The Vikings had pulled to within two and forced a turnover. The ball, as it often did, found Bearstail in transition.
But on the run, with the ball, Kristin had already found enough of the basket to work with. She wanted the lead, and she took the shot from the right wing, drilling a three that absolutely brought the house down, forced a Jimmie timeout, and gave the Vikings a wave of momentum they would not let go of the rest of the night.
I’ve been fortunate to call as many VCSU games as I have. When I think of all-time moments I’ve covered, Bearstail’s three ranks with Chad Leuck to Raymond Caylor with nine seconds left to beat the Jimmies in the 100th meeting, the Adam DeHaan knee-slide after the Viking men knocked off the Jimmies, and now Bailey Nelson’s kill to sweep the Jimmies in volleyball.
Every team has a collection of these moments. You might get one every year. Bearstail’s three is one of those moments.
Finally, number one:
Jill DeVries
At the end of the previous season, when Coach DeVries told me that the team would have to “get it done with guards”, I was skeptical.
This was the Dakota Athletic Conference. The league did not just play tall, it played big. And, after all, this isn’t high school, this is college basketball.
But Jill had a phrase that she believed in that fit this team perfectly. She said, “I need players that hate losing more than they love winning.”
To Jill, that’s probably second nature. But to all of us, it’s insightful.
Taking five guards and winning 23 games in college basketball is a coaching job that cannot be overstated. Coach DeVries convinced her team to play full-court basketball for an entire game, to be interchangeable, and to provide value in every minute of playing time.
The theme of the column is five, but Jill’s impact on this team goes beyond five. Courtney Titus, a Hankinson, ND native that found her way to Viking basketball, played the same as Wojahn at the other guard spot. Mandi Bindas averaged nearly nine points off the bench for Valley City State.
And for Jill, finding the top of the tournament hill after that 07-08 year had to have tasted sweet. And for Jill, walking into the Bubble that night to an atmosphere of standing-room only for a huge game certainly was validation for what she had wanted to build at VCSU.
The 2010-11 season was memorable, and that tournament was memorable, and being at home for the final game was memorable. It will be memorable to see as many of them together again in the fall of 2024.
I can’t remember who, but someone snapped this picture from across the floor when the fans stormed it following the title game victory. I’m so glad I have this one. It was a night I’ll always remember.