Inching closer

• Ashley Emmons

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Dickinson State senior guard Ashley Emmons, right, tries putting up a shot over Valley City State sophomore center Abby Rittenhouse during Wednesday night's Dakota Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament semifinal game at Scott Gymnasium.

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In its biggest game of the season, Dickinson State reached into its magic bag and pulled out some more tricks.

Trailing Valley City State by 15 points at halftime — its biggest first-half deficit of the season — the seventh-ranked Blue Hawks perked up and rallied to take a 67-62 victory during the Dakota Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament semifinals on Wednesday night at Scott Gymnasium.

The victory means the Blue Hawks (23-6) will host Sunday’s DAC championship game against 10th-ranked Black Hills State.

DSU coach Guy Fridley said the win proved the Blue Hawks are ready to be a championship team.

“Championship teams do championship things,” Fridley said. “We didn’t pout. We didn’t put our heads down. A championship team came out and played championship basketball in the second half.”

Kesley Boedeker scored 14 of her team-high 21 points after halftime and led the Blue Hawks from the 3-point line, where their 6-of-11 performance in the second half devastated the Vikings, whose season ends at 17-13.

Boedeker hit a 3-pointer 20 seconds into the second half to open a 10-0 run that put DSU back into the game. After holding a 39-24 halftime lead, VCSU had a 39-34 advantage with just 17:20 left in regulation.

“I thought they came out of their locker room with a lot of energy,” VCSU coach Jill DeVries said. “It’s a 40-minute game. It doesn’t matter how good you are for 20 minutes.”

The Blue Hawks weren’t very good in the first half, where lack of flow hindered them.

Turnovers grounded DSU’s uptempo offense while failing to pull down defensive rebounds gave VCSU several easy second-chance opportunities.

The Vikings outrebounded DSU 26-17 in the first half while shooting 48.5 percent from the field and dominating in the paint. DSU, meanwhile, shot just 7 of 30 (23 percent) from the field in the first half.

“I thought we were really passive that first half,” Fridley said.

That surely wasn’t the case in the second half, when it seemed nothing the Vikings did could slow the Blue Hawks.

Mindy Vanderpan came off the bench and hit a pair of 3-pointers from about 23 feet deep on the left wing, one of which gave DSU a 57-56 lead with 6:12 left. She finished with three 3s for nine points.

DSU center Kia Herbel also got more involved.

The 6-foot-2 junior had just five points, all on free throws, in the first half. She finished with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

“We didn’t give up,” Boedeker said. “… Once we started doing that, penetrating and getting to the paint, the girls started hitting some big shots.”

VCSU didn’t go away quietly, though.

Vikings sophomore center Abby Rittenhouse, who only six days earlier had dislocated a kneecap, showed no signs of the injury.

The 6-foot-1 center made some nifty moves in the post and kept her team alive down the stretch. She finished with a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds.

DSU used three trips to the free-throw line while keeping the Vikings off the board for 3:44 late in the second half to seal the win.

Fridley felt his team’s chemistry and history of winning games in the clutch has given it an opportunity to win its first DAC tournament championship.

“It’s a special group and special groups do special things,” Fridley said. “We have a group of kids who have the best energy I’ve ever been around.”

VALLEY CITY (17-13): Abby Rittnehouse 11-17 2-3 24, Mandy Johnson 6-8 2-2 15, Heidi Larson 4-6 1-2 9, Brittany Olson 3-6 1-2 8, Amanda Brown 3-9 0-0 6, Andrea Hummel 1-2 0-0 2 Caitlin Wojahn 0-6 0-1 0, Emily Goedert 0-2 0-0 0, Jacklyn Mitchell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 28-57 6-10 64.

DICKINSON STATE (23-6): Kelsey Boedeker 6-13 5-6 21, Kia Herbel 3-8 10-14 16, Kelly Pankratz 3-9 5-6 12, Mindy Vanderpan 3-5 0-0 9, Jennifer Marquez 2-6 3-4 7, Juanita Newsom 1-6 0-0 2, Kylee Bittner 0-1 0-0 0, Krystal Burns 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Emmons 0-5 0-1 0. Totals: 18-54 23-31 67.

Halftime: VC 39-24. Total fouls: VC 21, DSU 13. 3-point goals: VC 2-4 (Johnson 1-1, Olson 1-1, Brown 0-1, Wojahn 0-1), DSU 8-20 (Boedeker 4-6, Vanderpan 3-5, Pankratz 1-4, Emmons 0-4, Bittner 0-1). Rebounds: VC 38 (two with 10), DSU 31 (Herbel 11). Assists: VC 18 (Wojahn 6), DSU 11 (Emmons 4). Steals: VC 7 (Johnson 3), DSU 10 (Boedeker 6). Blocks: VC 3 (Larson), DSU 0. Turnovers: VC 21 (two with 5), DSU 14 (Marquez 5).

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