WATERTOWN, S.D. -- Viterbo University rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to knock off the top-seeded Bellevue University women's basketball team in the semifinals of the North Star Athletic Association Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Watertown Civic Arena.
Viterbo improves to 13-14 and advances to tomorrow's championship game at 1 p.m. against the winner of the second semifinal between (2-seed) Mayville State and (3-seed) Dakota State.
Bellevue drops to 21-11 with the loss.
A disjointed first quarter, as neither team was able to get much offensive flow, saw Viterbo hold a 19-12 lead.
Bellevue opened the second period strong, using a 9-2 run to tie the game at 21-all.
Five straight points from the V-Hawks gave Viterbo a 26-21 with 4:50 to play in the half. However, Bellevue clamped down defensively.
The Bruins held Viterbo scoreless the remainder of the period, closing the half on a 16-0 run, and forcing seven turnovers during that stretch as BU took a 37-26 lead into the break.
Viterbo's Sophie Leinfelder and Bellevue's Elexis Martinez led all players with eight points apiece at the break.
BU out-shot Viterbo in the opening half 36.8-32.0 but attempted 13 more field goals and only turned the ball over 10 times, compared to 19 V-Hawk turnovers.
The Bruin lead hovered between eight and 13 points for much of the third quarter until a 5-0 spurt in the final minute of the quarter pulled Viterbo to within two possessions of Bellevue.
The V-Hawks quickly cut it to a one-possession game on a layup by Alyssa Nilssen less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.
A three-pointer by Natalia Leguizamon gave Viterbo their first lead of the second half with 3:44 remaining.
Viterbo maintained an advantage until Bellevue used a furious rally to overcome a four-point deficit in the final 39 seconds of regulation. Trailing by two, Brittany Hill knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Bruins ahead 67-66 with 8.4 seconds to play.
At the other end, Viterbo's Madison Doerr made a layup in traffic with 1.3 seconds to go to put the V-Hawks ahead but the VU bench ran out onto the floor to prompt the officials to calla technical foul. Faith Ross hit 1-of-2 tries at the charity stripe to tie the game and force overtime as BU was unable to get a shot off on the ensuing inbounds play.
The Bruins started the scoring in overtime with Jamie Winkler knocking down a corner three before the teams would trade layups.
BU kept the lead for much of overtime until Viterbo, like Bellevue had done at the end of regulation, rallied in the closing seconds. Madison Lindauer scored on a layup with 19 seconds to play to give the V-Hawks their first lead of the extra period.
Viterbo hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 13 seconds to preserve the victory.
Ambree Schlosser led all players with 19 points. She was joined in double figures by three other V-Hawks. Alyssa Nilssen record a 14-point, 12-rebound performance for a double-double. Madison Lindauer tossed in 16 and Natalia Leguizamon added 13 points and eight boards.
Elexis Martinez led four Bruins in double figures with 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting and hauled in nine rebounds. Jamie Winkler scored 12, Cassie Jones added 11, and Brittany Hill chipped in 10 as the Bruin bench accounted for 36 points.
Bellevue's Laura Jurek led all players with 13 rebounds.
