The Lady Spartans topped the Northland CTC Pioneers 76-72 in overtime Saturday.

The Lady Spartans' next home game is Tuesday Dec. 1 at 1:00 vs. Concordia JV.

In a hard fought battle that featured many lead changes, the M State Lady Spartans lost to a very good Itasca Viking team 73-71 in overtime. The two teams entered overtime tied at 66, but Itasca scored the first 6 point of overtime to take a 72-66 lead. The Spartans roared back. Sophomore captain Jess Amann highlighted the comeback by sinking three straight free throws after being fouled on a three point attempt. This closed the gap to 72-71. Itasca hit one free throw with 12 seconds left to make it a two point game. Amann had a final shot with 1.6 seconds left on the clock. The shot missed, but Emily Johnson grabbed the rebound and hit the bucket before the horn sounded. The officials ruled that the clock had not been started on time and that the rebound basket by Johnson did not count, resulting in the Itasca victory.

Jess Amann led the Lady Spartans with 21 points all coming in the second half. Amann also had 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Freshmen Emily Johnson and Whitney Moore each added 16 points. Johnson also had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Freshman Whitney Swenson had 10 rebounds and 7 points.

They (the Vikings) were quick and we didn't stop there penetration like we should have, they just ran us better than we ran them," M-State coach Ann Williams said. "We need to play better defense and start picking up more boards. The inside game really hurt us tonight. We would try to double down low and they (the Vikings) just did a nice job dishing the ball off almost every time. We're not going to be a dynamic scoring team, so we really need to tighten up on defense. We've got a lot of ball handlers on this team and were still looking to see who's going to emerge as our shooters."

The Spartans play Northland CTC Saturday, Nov. 14 at home. The women play at 1:00 followed by the men at 3:00.