Bruins upended by VCSU in NSAA Quarters

BELLEVUE, Neb. -- Fifth-seeded Valley City State University jumped out to an early lead and survived a 16-0 Bruin run in the second quarter before regaining the lead in the third to defeat the fourth-seeded Bellevue University women's basketball team 78-76 in the North Star Athletic Association First Round on Wednesday evening.

With the win, the Vikings improve to 15-13 and move on to Saturday's semifinal, where they'll meet top-seeded Dakota State University at 1 p.m.

Bellevue wraps up the 2024-25 campaign with a record of 15-13.

Gabby Moore led four Bruins in double figures with 23 on 9-of-18 shooting, grabbed five rebounds, and dished out four assists. Zakiyyah Muhammad and Kaylee Denker dropped in 14 points and six rebounds apiece. Ashtyn Arnold added 12 points, dished out a team-high eight assists, and swiped three steals.

JayCee Richter paced the Vikings with 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Abby Aslesen scored 15 and grabbed nine boards while battling foul trouble throughout the evening, and Olivia Backus chipped in 10 off the bench. Ellie Braaten scored seven, grabbed seven rebounds, and delivered nine assists.

The game stayed close early on, with Valley City holding a 13-11 lead with 3:22 remaining in the first quarter before closing the period on a 9-2 run, capped by a three from Backus with 27 seconds to play for a 22-13 lead.

VCSU extended their advantage to as many as nine in the second quarter. Richter scored the Vikings' final field goal of the half at the 7:01 mark before the Bruins ran off 16 straight points in just 3:43 of game time to seize a 37-30 lead on Dru Zoucha's corner three with 2:03 to play. The Vikings knocked down five free throws to BU's one over the final 1:49 to close to within three, 38-35, at the half.

Aslesen scored the first bucket out of the break, but the Bruins responded with a 7-0 run from Moore to reestablish an eight-point advantage at the 8:00 mark of the quarter. Bellevue made just one field goal over the next 4:14 as the Vikings delivered a 14-3 run to take a three-point lead. Triples from Madison Spacher and Backus put the Vikings up by as many as 11 before Bellevue got four points from Muhammad and a layup from Denker to pull within three.
Spacher hit a jumper at the end of the third quarter as VCSU took a 61-56 lead into the fourth.

Muhammad scored the first basket of the fourth, and Arnold hit a driving layup after Josias Mickens stole the ensuing inbounds pass. Valley City scored eight straight in response to match their largest lead of the game at 69-60.

Bellevue chipped away over the next six minutes to cut the Viking lead to 77-74 following a pair of free throws from Brandi Dunn. Braaten made 1-of-2 free throws at the other end, but Richter collected the offensive rebound on the missed second shot. Braaten turned over the inbounds pass, and after BU advanced the ball, Denker made a driving layup with 3.1 seconds to make it a two-point game. The Bruins were unable to foul after the make and Valley City ran the clock out to take the victory.

Neither team shot the ball particularly well from the free-throw line. Valley City finished 16-of-23 (70%), while the Bruins were just 15-29 (52%) at the charity stripe.