RAPID CITY - Tenth-ranked South Dakota Mines lost a critical Dakota Athletic Conference women's basketball game and possibly much more on Friday when the Lady Hardrockers fell to Minot State 82-79 at the King Center.

The loss knocked Mines out of a first place tie with the Beavers. More critical to the Lady Hardrockers' future than Friday's defeat could be the loss of Melanie Vedvei to a left knee injury.

Vedvei left the game late in the second half, when she took a twisting fall to the Goodell Gymnasium floor. After spending several minutes on the floor, Vedvei was assisted to the Mines' bench. She was still walking gingerly well after the game.

"It's bad for her to be in that much pain," said Mines coach Barb Felderman, who shrugged her shoulders when asked if she knew the extent of Vedvei's injury.

Vedvei's injury further turned Mines' fortunes on a night when all seemed to go against the Lady Hardrockers, who trailed by nine points with at the 3:12 mark of the second half but drew back within 80-79 with 42 seconds to play.

Minot State guard Kendra Meyer shot the Beavers out to a 26-18 lead midway through the first half when she drained a 3-pointer. Meyer went on to score 23 points during the opening 20 minutes and had a hand in three other Beaver buckets by handing out assists.

When Mines focused its defense on Meyer in the second half, other Minot State players stepped in and filled the scoring void. Lashay Bagsby scored 12 of her 14 points after halftime and Whitney Loftesnes hit three 3-pointers in the second half, with each coming at a critical point in the game.

"We've been talking to (Whitney) about looking to shoot more," Minot State coach Sheila Green Gerding said. "Catching the ball and being ready to shoot."

It was Loftesnes who gave the Beavers a 77-68 lead at the 3:12 mark when she drained a 3 from the top of the key. Mines' Jennie Malone answered with a 3-pointer, and followed with a conventional three-point play to pull the Lady 'Rockers within 77-74. Vedvei then made it a 78-76 game with 1:09 to play when she stripped Meyer of the ball at mid-court and went in for a layup.

Mines pulled within 80-79 at the 42-second mark when Bethany Holyoak rebounded Jerika Ihnen's free throw miss and put it back for a basket.

Two extended stops in play took the wind out of Mines' comeback. The first was Vedvei's injury, which stopped play for several minutes and sent the Lady Hardrockers' leading scorer to the bench. Then after Malone missed a tough reverse layup in traffic, Felderman drew her second technical foul during a stop in play.

"It was physical, two teams battling for first place," Felderman said. "It's a long season yet. We can turn it around."

Vedvei finished with 23 points and five assists. Holyoak followed with 20 points and matched Vedvei with nine rebounds. Malone had 14 points and Ihnen 13 for Mines (16-4, 4-2 DAC).

Meyer ended up with 24 points, Bagsby and Loftesnes had 14 each and Sam Medcalf 10 for the Beavers (14-6, 5-1 DAC).

Mines hosts Dickinson State at 4 p.m. today at the King Center. Minot State travels to Spearfish to play No. 13 Black Hills State, tipping off at 4 p.m. at the Young Center.