RAPID CITY - The South Dakota Mines Lady Hardrockers held Valley City State scoreless for almost the first eight minutes of their Dakota Athletic Conference game on Friday night en route to an 83-51 win at Goodell Gymnasium.

"I thought our energy at the start on defense, getting in position, going for steals, everything, was very good," Mines head coach Barb Felderman said. "If they hit a couple of those shots at the beginning it probably would have been a bit different story."

The Lady Vikings found themselves down 11-0 before Mandy Johnson converted a lay-up and was fouled with 12:23 remaining in the first half. Things failed to get much better for Valley City as they shot just 5-for-34 from the field in the opening half and turned the ball over 16 times.

While the visitors from North Dakota were struggling to score against the man-to-man defense of Mines, the Hardrockers were patiently cutting through the visitors' zone defense. The Hardrockers had a fairly remarkable 28 assists in the game on 33 made field goals. Melanie Vedvei led the Hardrockers with nine assists while freshman Loryn Schuetzle added seven.

"We've had some pretty good games this year," Felderman said. "But as far as everybody getting involved that was probably our best. We know that teams are probably going to zone us a little more this year so we've been working on moving the ball and getting everybody involved. It's always nice to have a game like this and see that they're comprehending some of what you're telling them."

Jennie Malone paced the Hardrockers with 16 points and was the beneficiary of more than a couple of nice passes from Vedvei, who added 13 points. Jessica Tsingine and Jerika Ihnen each added 12 apiece. Ihnen was one of a trio of freshmen that made strong contributions during the game, along with Schuetzle and Stephany Bjustrom. All five of Mines' freshmen got to see action in a game that was basically over by halftime, with Mines leading 37-13. The Hardrockers stretched the lead to as many as 50 points when a Tsingine 3-pointer made it 75-25 with 9:40 remaining in the game.

The Hardrockers (13-3 overall, 1-1 DAC) will host Jamestown today at 4 p.m. Felderman would like her team to bring some of the same things to the table in that contest.

"They've got a very good player in Giuli Varriano (the DAC's leading scorer at 22.4 ppg) and some girls that can really light it up from outside," Felderman said.

Abby Dralle led Valley City (5-10, 0-2) with 15 points. The Vikings play Black Hills State at 4 p.m. today.