CASTLETON, Vt. – The Spartans allowed just five points over the final five minutes as they earned a hard-fought 63-47 victory over Norwich on Saturday afternoon in Glenbrook Gymnasium.

Castleton held the Cadets to only 24.6 percent shooting from the floor and 25.0 percent from beyond the arc as the team improved to 8-1 overall. Norwich allowed the Spartans to shoot 34.3 percent from the field and was outrebounded 52-40 as the Cadets dropped to 5-5 on the year.

Jade Desroches led three players in double figures with 16 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals. Alyssa Leonard also had 16 points and six rebounds while Meghan O'Sullivan chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds.

Aliah Curry was the only Norwich player in double figures with 16, but shot just 3-for-23 from the floor. The senior added four steals while Heather LeBlanc provided nine points and eight rebounds up front.

The Spartans came out firing and jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the opening three minutes, capped off by an O'Sullivan shot from the top of the key. Two minutes later Leonard extended the Castleton advantage to 16-2 on a layup. Norwich came back with a 7-2 run over the next 2:09 to pull within nine at 12:51.

Leonard followed up her own miss 30 seconds later for the 11-point lead and the teams traded baskets over the next five minutes. Nine straight by Castleton extended their lead to 29-15 with 7:28 left, though the Cadets countered with a 13-4 run over the final seven minutes of the half to go into the break just down five, 33-28.

Norwich closed within two, 33-31 on a three by Kelsey Lotti to open the second half and then again at 37-35 with 15:52 left. However, O'Sullivan hit a jump shot to make it 39-35 at 14:19 igniting a 13-0 Spartan run to extend their lead to 50-35 with 9:37 left.

A three from Curry broke the scoring drought and the Cadets were able to close within ten, 52-42, on a jumper by Tory Kethro with 5:49 remaining. Four consecutive free throws pushed the Spartan advantage back to 14 with four minutes left as they finished with the 16-point victory.

Shelby LaBarge pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds for Castleton while Liz Douglass added five points, eight rebounds and two steals. The Spartans also shot 14-for-16 from the charity stripe, their third straight game shooting over 85 percent from the free throw line.

Castleton returns on action on Tuesday when the team travels to face Colby-Sawyer at 7:30 pm.