Courtney Dixon scored a career-high 19 points as the Valley City State University women's basketball team rolled to a 71-44 victory over Northern New Mexico on Friday in Denver.

Dixon scored 12 of her points in the first 14 minutes, including nine straight points that fueled a 17-0 Viking run and broke the game open.

The Viking women improve to 11-6 overall with the victory on the first day of the Johnson & Wales Classic. VCSU will play Johnson & Wales University on Saturday at 5 p.m. CST.

The Vikings never trailed against Northern New Mexico and began to pull away midway through the first half. With the Vikings leading 10-9, Steph Pedersen made a layup with 8:27 remaining that started a 17-0 run, giving the Vikings a commanding 27-9 lead. Dixon scored nine straight points in the game-changing run.

VCSU led 30-15 at halftime and led by as many as 29 points late in the second half.

Dixon had six rebounds to go along with her team-high 19 points. Sierra Even added 12 points and four rebounds, and Lexi Lennon had 10 points and four rebounds. Ten different Vikings scored in the game.

The Vikings shot 42 percent overall (23-55) and made 39 percent of their 3-point attempts (10-26). Even led the Vikings with three 3's, and both Dixon and Lennon knocked down two 3's. VCSU was 15-17 (88 percent) from the free throw line.

Northern New Mexico shot 28 percent (16-58) overall, 32 percent on 3's (7-22) and 71 percent on free throws (5-7).

The Vikings had 16 offensive rebounds and won the rebound battle 46-29.