WAVERLY, Iowa - The University of Dubuque women's basketball team faced a tough task on the road tonight as they took on the No. 10/11 Wartburg College Knights from Levick Arena. The Spartans kept pace with the ranked Knights early, but the Knights pushed away late to win 55-42 on Wednesday night.

After falling down 8-0 in the opening three minutes of the game, the Spartans responded with a 14-0 run the rest of the first quarter to take the six point lead after one quarter of play. However, the Knights took over in the second quarter, scoring half of their points in the quarter and outscored the Spartans by 17 points. The Knights held a 35-24 lead at the break. 

The Spartans made a run to open the second half with eight unanswered points to pull within 35-32 in the first three minutes. The Knights responded with their own 8-0 run to bring their lead back to 11 points. The Spartans finished the final 3:39 of the quarter with the only four points in that span for both teams, cutting the Knights lead to single digits heading to the final quarter. The Knights would be too much for the Spartans in the final quarter, holding the Spartans scoreless through the first 7:19 of the quarter. The Spartans didn't get their first field goal of the quarter until the final minute and a half left in the game. 

Both teams finished with 17 made field goals on the same amount of attempts (59), but the difference in the game was 10 three-pointers by the Knights whereas the Spartans didn't hit a single one and the Knights made three more free throws. 

Samantha McDonald scored a team-high eight points with half of them coming at the free throw line on a perfect 4-4. The Spartans as a team were a perfect 8-8 from the line tonight.

The Spartans fall to 4-9 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

Up Next
The Spartans will be on the road again on Saturday, January 11 when they face the Buena Vista University Beavers at 2:00 p.m.