VALLEY CITY – The Valley City State women's basketball team defeated Presentation College Saturday afternoon after a back-and-forth matchup ended in VCSU's favor, 74-68.
The game featured 12 ties and 13 lead changes, but the Vikings held onto the lead throughout the entire fourth quarter to improve their record to 4-3 at the halfway mark of conference play. Valley City State now holds a 7-10 record overall. Presentation drops to 4-14 overall and 1-5 in the NSAA.
The Saints finished the second quarter on a 9-3 run to build a 36-31 lead at the break. The Vikings came out of the locker room shooting 56 percent and outscoring the Saints 23-15 in the third quarter to build a lead they would hold onto the rest of the way.
All nine Vikings who saw playing time Saturday scored at least 4 points. Freshman Ashlyn Diemert led the way with 17 points while Emma Nielsen added 11 points and Breanna Price added nine.
Bayli Heap scored eight points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, Taryn Dieterle scored seven points and grabbed six rebounds, and Adriana Torres chipped in seven points and six rebounds. Allie Critchley contributed five points, Allie Negen added six, and Katie Johnson chipped in four.
Valley City State shot 43 percent from the field (27-63), 26 percent on 3's (5-19) and 44 percent from the free throw line (15-34). Presentation shot 45 percent on field goals (24-53), 39 percent on 3-pointers (7-18) and 68 percent from the line (13-19).
The two NSAA teams were deadlocked at 35 rebounds each while the Vikings turned 13 offensive rebounds into 18 second chance points. VCSU tallied 10 steals Saturday and forced 18 Presentation turnovers. The Vikings also finished with 14 assists as a team, led by Critchley and Nielsen with three assists each.
Presentation's Brittiney Seymour had a double-double Saturday with a game-high 20 points and 14 rebounds. Kylee Wadsworth chipped in 14 points and Jordan Kulczyk scored 11.
UP NEXT: Valley City State begins the second half of the conference schedule next weekend. VCSU travels to Presentation on Jan. 28 and Mayville State on Jan. 29.
