VALLEY CITY, ND  (NewsDakota.com)  Two things remained consistent for the Vikings Friday night.

Those were Ashlyn Diemert leading the Viking women, and the Viking men struggling with what head coach Ryan Montgomery called “the last step”.

Diemert rolled to 37 points leading the Vikings to an 86-70 win over Viterbo at the W. E. Osmon Fieldhouse, hitting on 11 of 16 shots from the field, six of nine from beyond, and nine of nine from the foul line in the win.

The Vikings opened up a 15-point lead early, but saw a challenge from Viterbo that would cut the lead to as few as five before the Vikings iced the game late.  JayCee Richter was a part of icing the game, scoring 11 of her 15 after halftime, and also grabbing eight rebounds.

Ellie Braaten found a scoring mark that the Vikings are looking for from the freshman from Westhope, ND, adding 10 in the win.

The Viking men fell behind by 13 early as Viterbo hit 67% of their shots in the opening 10 minutes, but cut the lead to one at 82-81 in the final minute, before falling 93-81 to the V-Hawks.

Cleveland Bedgood scored 22, 19 in the second half, including an 11-11 night from the foul line.  Odier Olange added 18 points, with Lamar Grayson knocking in 15, and Cayden Rickard chipping in 10.

Valley City State struggled in timely moments.  A handful of Viterbo possessions saw offensive rebounds after shots were taken deep in the shot clock and missed.  Rickard struggled from the field until the final minutes of the game.  Olange missed a chance to tie the game with a layin in front of the rim that grazed the heel and was ultimately too strong.

The Vikings were also missing Agwa Nywesh, who has sparked the Viking offense, averaging 13.6 per game since the semester break.  Three other Vikings saw limited minutes due to illness.

VCSU hosts Waldorf Saturday.