Saturday…
Women’s Basketball…
Valley City (Mark Potts) Lexi Lennon scored her 1,000th career point and the Valley City State women’s basketball team won its season opener Saturday afternoon, defeating College of Saint Mary 87-73 in Valley City.
Lennon finished the game with 24 points, including back-to-back dagger 3’s that gave the Vikings a 15-point lead with 1:13 remaining.
Valley City State improves to 1-0 on the season. College of Saint Mary drops to 0-2.
Lennon’s 24 points led four Vikings in double figures. Kennedy Henningsgardhit three 3’s and finished with 16 points. Mackenzie Huber went 6-for-7 shooting and posted 13 points and seven rebounds. Alli Vandal had a near triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks.
Junior transfer point guard Kate Williams scored nine points and dished out three assists in her Viking debut.
College of Saint Mary led by as many as seven points in the first quarter, 18-11, before the Vikings closed the quarter with a 7-0 run to tie it at 18-18. VCSU built a 38-31 halftime lead and led 57-49 after three quarters.
The Flames battled back to within four points – 67-63 – with 5:27 left in the game. Kate Williams then knocked down a 3 to put the lead back to seven points. It was 74-68 when the Vikings used a 9-0 run to put the game away for good. Alli Vandal converted a 3-point play with 2:18 remaining, and then Lennon followed with back-to-back 3’s to put the game out of reach.
VCSU shot 51 percent in the second half and 47 percent for the game (34-73). The Vikings were 10-for-28 on 3’s (36 percent) and 9-for-15 at the free throw line.
College of Saint Mary shot 33 percent overall (21-63), 33 percent on 3’s (7-21) and 89 percent at the free throw line (24-27).
The Vikings held a 42-34 advantage on the glass. VCSU had 17 assists, seven blocks, two steals and 13 turnovers.
Up next: Valley City State travels to Florida for two games at the Warner Classic on Nov. 3-4.
Football…
Aberdeen (VCSUVikings.com) – The Valley City State football team erupted for a season-high 66 points Saturday as the Vikings rolled to a 66-27 road victory at Presentation College.
Valley City State rushed for 322 yards and passed for 295 as they totaled 617 yards of offense in the victory. The Viking defense limited Presentation College to just 308 yards of offense and sacked the Saints four times.
The Vikings improve to 4-5 overall and 3-4 in conference play. Presentation College drops to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the North Star Athletic Association.
The Saints led 7-3 midway through the first quarter before the Vikings scored 28 straight points en route to a 31-7 lead. VCSU held a 38-14 halftime lead and a 52-21 lead after three quarters.
Anthony Logan and Louis Quinones each rushed for two touchdowns; Jake Peterson and DJ Edwards each caught two touchdowns; and quarterback Jalen Pfeifer passed for four scores.
Logan’s 108 rushing yards on 13 carries led VCSU’s dominant rushing attack. Quinones picked up 76 yards on 16 carries; Raymonte Maynard had nine carries for 64 yards and a touchdown; and Pfeifer rushed for 63 yards on seven carries.
Wide receiver Jake Peterson had a huge game as well, catching 10 passes for 172 yards and two scores. Edwards caught four balls for 46 yards and two touchdowns. Eli Luna had four catches for 44 yards. Pfeifer had a monster game at quarterback, completing 23 of 31 passes for 295 yards and four scores.
Andrew Hanretty recovered a fumble and led the defense with nine tackles. Riley Fredrickson had eight tackles, and Kendick Lenzen and Damion Scandrick each had six tackles. Hunter Slemmons and Jesus Munoz had five tackles each.
Up next: Valley City State closes out the season Nov. 4 with a 1 p.m. game at rival University of Jamestown.
