VALLEY CITY – (vcsuvikings.com)The Valley City State women’s basketball team opened conference play in the win column, taking a 71-67 victory over Dickinson State Saturday.
Dani Schwanke’s 13 second-half points paced the Valley City State comeback, including a pair of free throws and layup drive late in the fourth quarter to ice the Viking win.
Valley City State improves to 2-3 on the season and 1-0 in the North Star Athletic Association. Dickinson State falls to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the NSAA.
“To start conference play 1-0 is a huge step in the right direction for this team and I couldn’t be more proud of them. We had a lot of girls step up at different times in the game and we were able to string together stops when it counted down the stretch.” said head coach Vanessa Johnson. “We have to keep working to clean up the little parts of the game, but overall excited to see what this group can do!”
The Viking and Blue Hawk teams were evenly matched Saturday, going down to the wire as the two held four ties and exchanged 12 leads throughout the game. Dickinson State led by as much as seven points in the first half and held a 34-29 advantage at halftime. Valley City State used an efficient second half, shooting 57 percent throughout the final 20 minutes, to complete the comeback over the Blue Hawks.
The Vikings and Blue Hawks were still tied up at 66-66 with 1:57 to go in the fourth quarter. Over the next two possessions, Dani Schwanke scored on a pair of free throws and a layup to hold a 70-66 lead over Dickinson State. The Blue Hawks’ attempts to regain possessions fell short as the Vikings took the win, 71-67.
Valley City State shot 47 percent from the field (20-43), 38 percent on three-pointers (8-21), and 62 percent on free throws (23-37). Dickinson State shot 40 percent from the field (22-55), 41 percent on three-pointers (9-22), and 64 percent on free throws (14-22). Each team turned the ball over 25 times and totaled 31 rebounds in the game.
Dani Schwanke led the Vikings with 22 points, including four three-pointers Saturday. Three more Vikings scored in double figures, including Maara Nelson with 14, Emma Nielsen with 13, and Allie Critchley who scored 11.
Critchley also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the Vikings while Nielsen tallied six steals Saturday.
Dickinson State also had four players scoring in double figures, led by Shali Sheridan who scored 15 points off the Blue Hawk bench. Lilly Kelley and Dakota Dosch each scored 12, and Courtney Olson scored 11.
Olson also had a team-high nine rebounds and four assists for the Blue Hawks, while Dosch tallied five steals for the Blue Hawks.
UP NEXT: The Vikings now take a break and will resume play in January. Valley City State is scheduled to host University of Jamestown on Monday, Jan. 4, at 6 p.m.