MAYVILLE – The Valley City State women’s basketball team took down another NSAA team receiving national recognition Friday night on the road as the Vikings defeated Mayville State, 84-66. The win comes just after VCSU took down No. 24 Jamestown last Saturday.

After Ashlyn Diemert scored 18 points in the first half Friday, the Comets found a way to shut her down in the second half.  The Vikings then looked to Abby Aslesen to make up the difference and she came through with 14 second-half points to total a career-high 26 points on the night. VCSU improves to 11-9 on the season and 3-5 in the NSAA. Mayville State drops to 14-6 on the season and 4-4 in conference play.

VCSU didn’t waste any time Friday as Aslesen scored six straight points to help the Vikings to an early 8-1 lead after the first 2:15 of the game. Mayville closed the gap to trail 9-8, but an Aslesen bucket sparked a 12-4 run for the Vikings capped by an Ellie Braaten 3-pointer to finish the first quarter with a 21-12 lead.

Mayville slowly closed the gap in the second quarter, pulling back into contention on an Alex Page jumpshot to trail 26-25 with 6:26 to go. A 3-pointer from JayCee Richter then helped the Vikings gain back the momentum to go on a 21-7 run before halftime. The rally featured three straight 3-pointers by Diemert and another from Madison Spacher to help the 47-32 Viking advantage at the break.

Coming out of the locker room, Mayville State held Diemert scoreless throughout the third quarter. The Vikings maintained its double figure lead with the help of six third quarter points from Elyse Hebrink. The Vikings led by as much as 26 points in the fourth quarter, and 10 fourth quarter points from Aslesen helped the Vikings hold on for the road win.

VCSU was 29-for-56 from the field for a 52 percent shooting percentage Friday night. Its 52 percent from the field is VCSU’s second-best in conference play this season, just behind its 55 percent against Jamestown last weekend. VCSU also shot 48 percent from beyond the arc (12-25) and 78 percent on free throws (14-18). VCSU’s 12 3-pointers also ranks second on the season, behind VCSU’s 16 last weekend at Jamestown. The Comets shot 37 percent on field goals (22-60), 32 percent on 3-pointers (11-34) and 85 percent from the free throw line (11-13).

VCSU won the rebound battle 39-30, including nine on the offensive glass. The Vikings dished 17 assists and committed 14 turnovers while the Comets totaled just eight assists and 15 turnovers Friday.

Diemert finished with 20 points while going 5-for-7 on 3-pointers Friday while Braaten neared a triple double with 10 points, a career-high 10 assists, and nine rebounds on the night. Hebrink contributed nine points and seven rebounds while JayCee Richter and Ellie Powell each scored six. Defensively, VCSU totaled four blocks and six steals in Friday’s game.

Mayville had three players finish in double figure scoring including Alex Page with 19 points, Mackenzie Hughes with 17 points, and Hannah Stark who scored 14. Page and Hughes each pulled down a team-best seven rebounds and combined for five of Mayville’s eight steals.

UP NEXT: VCSU returns home on Friday, Jan. 31 to host Bellevue University for a conference doubleheader. The Viking women are slated to tip at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men at 7:30 p.m.