DECORAH, Iowa - After a 10 day layoff due to a couple of postponements, the UD women's basketball finally hit the court again on Saturday night at Luther, winning a 69-67 thriller over the Norse.
In a game with 14 lead changes and 10 ties, it was a Vanessa Eniola three-pointer with 10 seconds remaining that provided the final lead change and gave the Spartans their fourth win in a row. Eniola came off the bench to provide the Spartans a team-high 18 points in 24 minutes, as well as seven rebounds.
In all, the Spartans had four players reach double figures in scoring in the win. Behind Eniola, Alli Bailey finished with 12 points, while Tabria Thomas and Kathleen Mathias each had 11 points.
The Spartans and Norse would trade leads the entire first half, with UD leading after each quarter at 16-14 after one and 40-38 at halftime. Neither team would lead by more than three points in the third quarter and UD and Luther would head into the fourth quarter all square at 53-53.
UD would race out to a quick four-point lead in the fourth quarter, however Luther would then rattle off 10 of the next 11 points to take a five point lead over UD with 4:33 remaining. A Tabria Thomas jumper with 1:30 remaining pulled the Spartans back within one point at 67-66.
After a couple empty possessions by both teams and time winding down, Kathleen Mathias found Vanessa Eniola for a three-pointer to give UD a 69-67 lead with 10 seconds remaining. Luther would call a time-out with two-seconds remaining but the Spartans would force a turnover coming out of the timeout to seal their fourth win in a row and move to 4-1 in conference play.
Up next, the Spartans host #5 Wartburg on Wednesday, Feb. 17th at 5:30 p.m. for Senior Night.