– Valley City Vikings Saturday Recap

Basketball

Women

MAYVILLE (VCSU) – The Valley City State women’s basketball team couldn’t keep up with a hot-shooting Mayville team Saturday, dropping a 91-54 road game to the Comets.

Mayville sank 18 3’s in Saturday’s game – including six from Erin Walcker – en route to the home win. Mayville improves to 14-4 on the season and 6-1 in conference play. The Vikings drop to 11-9 overall and 4-3 at the halfway point of conference play.

The Comets used a 14-0 run in the first quarter to build an early 23-11 lead. From there, VCSU started to come back, scoring the next 12 points to tie the score at 23-23 early in the second quarter.

Mayville answered with its largest quarter of the day, sinking seven 3’s and scoring 30 points in the second period to lead 53-30 at halftime. The Vikings couldn’t come back down the stretch, falling to the Comets on the road.

Ashlyn Diemert dropped 15 points Saturday and Adriana Torres chipped in 13 points off the bench. Diemert and Allie Critchley each dished a team-best three assists in the game.

Diemert, Torres, Critchley, and Meredith Dumas grabbed five rebounds apiece as the Vikings held a 42-36 rebounding edge, including a 15-4 edge on the offensive glass.

VCSU shot 33 percent from the field (21-64), 22 percent from 3-point range (4-18) and 38 percent on free throws (8-21). Mayville shot 51 percent (30-59), 50 percent on 3’s (18-36) and 72 percent from the free throw line (13-18).

Mayville totaled 23 assists and 11 steals Saturday while VCSU finished with 12 assists and four steals. The Vikings committed 21 turnovers to Mayville’s 15.

Erin Walcker led all scorers with 21 points and six 3’s for Mayville. Jes Mertens added 17 points and five 3’s while Kayla Rocholl scored 12 points on four 3-pointers Saturday. Mackenzie Hughes and Cj Decker tallied seven assists apiece and Jordan Zrust led Mayville’s rebounding effort with nine.

UP NEXT: VCSU returns home next Friday and Saturday to kick off the second half of the conference season against Mayville and Presentation. The VCSU women’s basketball team hosts its Alumni Weekend Jan. 27-29.

Men

MAYVILLE, N.D. (VCSU) – Valley City State had a 10-point second half lead on Saturday but could not hold it on the road at the conference leader.

The Vikings led 42-37 at halftime and 47-37 early in the second half before Mayville State rallied back to defeat VCSU 84-72.

The teams traded momentum multiple times in the second half and were tied 70-70 after VCSU’s Daevonte Munson scored with 3:11 remaining. Mayville State took the lead for good with back-to-back 3-pointers by Jamison Kramer and then made free throws down the stretch to clinch the game.

VCSU drops to 10-11 overall and is now 3-4 in the North Star Athletic Association. Mayville State is now 17-3 overall and 7-0 in the conference. The Vikings and Comets will rematch just six days from now, squaring off Friday night at Valley City’s W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse.

The Vikings finish the first half of conference play in fifth place in the NSAA standings at 3-4, but have shown their potential to play with anyone in the conference. VCSU has had second-half leads on the top two teams in the conference, Mayville State and Viterbo, in the past 8 days.

Munson led the Vikings on Saturday with 22 points and four rebounds. He shot 7-for-13 overall and was 8-for-9 on free throws. Cayden Rickard and 14 points and four steals, while Duoth Gach had 14 points and three steals. Hunter Lyman had a new double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Vikings finished with 12 steals and forced 19 turnovers. That defensive pressure helped keep the Vikings in the game despite an off-shooting night. VCSU finished the game shooting 36 percent overall (27-76), 13 percent on 3’s (4-31) and 78 percent at the line (14-18).

Thomas Gieske led the Comets with 32 points on 14-for-14 shooting. As a team, Mayville shot 58 percent overall (33-57), 33 percent on 3’s (5-15), and 87 percent at the line (13-15).

Up next: Valley City State returns home next weekend for doubleheaders against Mayville State (Friday) and Presentation College (Saturday