VALLEY CITY, N.D. - A late three pointer from Valley City State University was all it took to put the University of Mary Women's Basketball team away in a hard fought matchup between the two schools.
 
Brittney Dietz continues her torrid scoring pace and Hannah Larson was active an all ends of the court, but it wasn't enough as the Vikings ended up on top 54-52 over the Marauders.
 
Valley City jumped out to a 9-2 lead early in the first half, but the Marauders came charging back to turn the half into a back-and-forth between the teams. U-Mary took over the lead midway through at 14-13 and slowly extended their advantage to 24-18 later in the first.
 
The Vikings fought back and scored the next five points to close the gap to 24-23, but the Marauders responded with four points of their own to keep a cushion at 28-23. Valley City again closed back in at 28-27 and the Marauders responded in kind with a late jumper to give them a 30-27 lead.
 
Unfortunately the Vikings took the inbounded ball up the floor and launched a tying three to knot the score at 30 apiece and the Marauders went into half with a full workload ahead of them.
 
Valley City jumped ahead again early in the second half but never had a lead of more than four points as U-Mary kept things close through most of the half. The Marauders were able to tie and eventually go ahead in the game but could not get a handle on the lead and the Vikings made it an interesting contest.
 
With the score tied at 49-49 late in the game, the Vikings took the first shot at putting the game away with a jumper to go up 51-49. The Marauders took the ball back down the court and Haley Hibbs showed off her skills and fired off a quick three pointer to retake the lead at 52-51. Valley City wasn't fazed and rattled off a three pointer of their own to swing the score back to 54-52 in favor of the Vikings.
 
The Marauders had a chance in the waning seconds to win the game but missed the would-be winning shot and fell to the Vikings 54-52.
 
Dietz finished the game with 22 points on 9-14 shooting from the field, her third straight game to open up the season with at least 10 points. She also finished with three rebounds and five steals in 37 minutes on the court.
 
Larson is proving to be an asset with multiple tools as she finished with eight rebounds, five points and five assists in 35 minutes played.
 
Hibbs ended up with eight points and four rebounds in her 31 minutes on the floor.
 
U-Mary got a lot of production out of their starting five as Dani Clarke finished with seven points, two assists and two blocks in only 19 minutes of action.
 
Kaitlyn Haag saw limited time off the bench but she made every minute count as she finished with five points and five rebounds in 10 minutes.
 
The Marauders (0-3) will be back in Bismarck for the weekend starting on Friday, Nov. 21, when they host Canadian Mennonite University in the first of two games between the schools.
 
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