Valley City – Ashlyn Diemert’s 19 points helped the Valley City State women’s basketball team to a 74-63 win over Dickinson State Saturday to round out the 4th annual Dakota Clash hosted at the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse.
 
The Vikings finished with eight free throws in the final 1:06 to secure the 11-point win. VCSU improves to 4-3 on the season and Dickinson drops to 2-5 overall.
 
VCSU opened strong with an early 18-8 lead in the opening quarter on a 3-pointer by Katie Johnson. From there, Dickinson State went on a 13-2 run to build a 21-20 lead after the first 10 minutes. The Vikings took back the lead with an Ellie Powell basket to open the second quarter and held on to a 33-32 advantage at halftime.
 
After holding a 43-43 tie midway through the third quarter, VCSU took an 11-3 run capped by a steal and fast-break layup by Hailey Roberts to lead 54-46. Dickinson managed to close the gap to trail 56-53 at the end of the third quarter.
 
VCSU’s defense held the Blue Hawks to just 10 points in the final frame. The Vikings pulled away to lead 63-56 on another 3-pointer from Johnson and VCSU went 9-for-12 on free throws in the fourth quarter to lock in the 74-63 victory.
 
VCSU shot 43 percent from the field Saturday (25-58), 25 percent on 3-pointers (5-20) and 83 percent on free throws (19-23). Dickinson State shot 43 percent overall (24-56), 39 percent from 3-point range (7-18) and 73 percent from the free throw line (8-11).
 
Dickinson held a 36-33 rebounding advantage including 11 on the offensive glass. VCSU posted 27 points off turnovers and 43 points in the paint Saturday.
 
Diemert paced the Vikings with 19 points, five rebounds and five steals Saturday. Hailey Roberts scored 15 points while Adriana Torres tallied nine and Katie Johnson chipped in eight. Ellie Braaten dished a game-high four assists and Rosie Anderson led all players with nine rebounds in the game.
 
Dickinson’s Samantha Oase totaled 18 points, seven rebounds, two steals and one block Saturday. Kayden Steele added 15 points and Katherine Fox scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds for the Blue Hawks.
 
UP NEXT: Valley City State is on the road to face Rocky Mountain College in the Dickinson State Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday, Nov. 25.