MENOMONIE, Wis. - The University of Dubuque women's basketball team showed no slow down after Thanksgiving by edging out the Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties in the opening game of the 2014 UW-Stout Thanksgiving Turkey Shootout Tournament by a narrow 78-76 margin. The Gusties made the finish exciting for the fans, trailing by four points, they connected on a three point shot with 10 seconds left of the game. A quick foul sent the Spartans Jenna Kotas to the line for a pair of free throws. She would miss the first and sink the second attempt to give the Spartans the 78-76 lead. An attempt by the Gusties as time expired missed it's mark and the Spartans captured their third victory of the season and handed Gustavus their first loss of the season.

UD led at halftime 36-34, but had a difficult time slowing down the Gusties Mikayla Miller who sank 6-9 shot attempts to lead all halftime scorers with 16 points. The Spartans stepped up their defensive game in the second half and held Miller to five points in the final 20 minutes of play. UD defensive intensity pushed the Gusties into committing 22 turnovers in the contest, UD would score 23 points off the mistakes. Kotas and teammate Meggie Schmidt led the Spartans in scoring with 22 points after they both were held to just eight first half points. Kayla Springer and Emily Brinker would add 10 points with Springer grabbing seven rebounds to lead the Spartans off the glass. Schmidt and Jessica Goetz tallied three steals a piece of the Spartans 11 steals in the victory.

UD (3-1 overall) will finish up the tournament on Sunday in the championship game at 3:00 p.m. vs. UW-Stout (1-4 overall). UW-Stout beat the College of St. Scholastica (0-2 overall) by a 76-43 score in the second game on Saturday.