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CITY (NewsDakota.com) – Dierra Diegel scored 25 points, including 16 in the second half Saturday as the Valley City girls basketball team rallied after halftime for a 55-51 victory over Bismarck St. Mary’s.

St. Mary’s salvaged a split with a big victory in the boys game, 65-45 over the Hi-Liners.
Valley City’s girls improve to 6-0 this season, St. Mary’s falls to 1-4. Valley City’s boys drop to 3-4 and St. Mary’s improves to 4-1.

In the girls game, St. Mary’s started on fire, jumping out to a 12-0 lead in the first few minutes, and leading 33-24 at halftime. The lead shifted between five and nine points, until with Valley City traling 42-34, the Hi-Liners ripped off a 9-0 run that gave them their first lead of the game at 43-42.

Clarissa Olson jump-started the run with a 3-point play and Danica Diegel finished it when her layup from the left side but Valley City on top for the first time all afternoon.

A late basket by Dierra Diegel gave the Hi-Liners a 53-48 lead. A 3-pointer by Dominique Giesen and a turnover by Valley City gave St. Mary’s a chance to tie with 15 seconds left, but Giesen was called for an offensive foul and Valley City made two free throws to ice the game.

In the boys game, St. Mary’s was raining 3’s en route to the big victory. Two 3’s by Ross Kopp put the Saints up 19-8 in the early going. Valley City would rally back with with an 8-0 run to get within 19-6, but the Saints were able to extend the lead to 32-22, and then pulled away in the second half for the big victory.

Chase Carpenter led Valley City with 17 points in the loss.

Up next:  The Hi-Liners go on the road to play a pair of ranked West Fargo teams on Tuesday night. West Fargo’s girls are tied for the No. 3 ranking and the boys are tied for the No. 5 ranking in the state. Girls varsity is set to tip about 5:45 p.m. from West Fargo High School, boys will follow at about 7:30 p.m.

Both games can be heard on KOVC 1490 and NewsDakota.com.