Fourth-quarter cold spell spoils BU’s bid for back-to-back road wins

VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- Ashlyn Diemert scored 34 points to lead Valley City State University as the Vikings erased a 19-point deficit to defeat the Bellevue University women's basketball team 70-69 on Saturday afternoon.

The Bruins saw their overall record slide to 8-10 and drop to 1-2 in conference play while Valley City snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 7-9 overall and even their NSAA record at 1-1.

Bellevue and Valley City traded barbs early before consecutive layups by Brandi Dunn and Shelby Little put the Bruins ahead 11-7 ahead of a VCSU timeout at the 5:07 mark. A pair of Bruin defensive stops out of that timeout saw Bellevue extend their run as Gabby Moore knocked down consecutive threes from the wing for a 17-7 advantage.

The Vikings scored five-straight points, but Bellevue answered with two more triples – this time from Delaney VanBlaricon and Dunn – and took a 23-12 lead after 10 minutes of play. VCSU's Ashlyn Diemert and Moore scored 10 apiece to lead their respective teams in the opening quarter.

Aminah Hall knocked down back-to-back three-pointers as Bellevue scored the first eight points of the second quarter, extending their run from the end of the first to 14-0 as they stretched their lead to 31-12 and prompting another Viking timeout with 6:41 left in the half. VCSU scored nine of the next 12 before VanBlaricon knocked down another Bruin triple for a 37-21 lead.

Bellevue shot 47% from the floor and 48% beyond the arc in the first half as they took a 42-31 lead into intermission. Diemert provided virtually all of the Viking offense in the first half, pouring in 22 of VCSU's 31 first-half points. Moore led BU with 15 in the half, while Hall (9), Dunn (8), and VanBlaricon (6) accounted for 23 more. Bellevue knocked down 10 first-half three-pointers, as the teams combined for 18 in the first half and held a 22-15 rebounding advantage.

Diemert tied a VCSU single-game three-point record with her seventh of the game in the opening seconds of the second half as the Vikings quickly cut the deficit to single digits. The Bruins countered with a 10-4 run, capped by a three from Kaylee Denker to push the lead to 14, 52-38, with 5:16 remaining in the third quarter. The teams played pretty even over the final five minutes of the quarter as BU took a 59-49 lead into the fourth.

Hailey Roberts and Jaycee Richter scored on the Vikings' first two possessions of the fourth quarter to make it a two-possession game, the closest it had been since Bellevue led 11-7 in the opening minutes. After trading buckets inside, Richter found herself open on a cut to the block to cut the BU lead to 61-57 ahead of a Bruin timeout. With 6:10 to play, Diemert tied the game with a pair of free throws.

Diemert gave the Vikings their first lead with 3:39 remaining on her eighth three-pointer of the game. A layup from Moore and a pair of free throws from Dunn saw Bellevue tie the game up at 67-all with 1:49 left. Richter scored off an offensive rebound at the other end to put the Vikings back in front, but Dunn answered with a slash to the basket for the Bruins.

Roberts hit the first of two free throws with 29.1 seconds remaining but missed the second as Hall secured the rebound of BU. A Bruin timeout advanced the ball to midcourt with a chance to hold for the final shot with 27.9 seconds to play. Moore missed a driving layup, but a Valley City play was out of bounds when she collected the ball, and the Bruins retained possession with 6.9 seconds. Moore got a clean look in the corner for three, but her shot hit off the heel of the rim. Richter missed a pair of free throws at the other end as Bellevue collected a defensive rebound and called timeout with 1.1 seconds left. The inbounds pass went to Denker whose shot rimmed out at the buzzer.

Richter scored 10 of her 11 points in the fourth quarter to join Diemert in double figures. Bellevue shot just 4-of-17 from the floor in the fourth quarter. Valley City shot 21 free throws to Bellevue's six.

Moore led a trio of Bruins in double figures with 19 points as Hall and Dunn dumped in 12 apiece. Hall added 10 rebounds for her first career double-double.

Bellevue returns home next weekend to host a pair of NSAA contests. The Bruins welcome Waldorf University to town on Friday, Jan. 19, for a 5:30 p.m. tip before entertaining Viterbo University on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 3 p.m.