Vikings Edge Out Lions, 69-60

SALEM, Mass. – Tonight the Salem State women's basketball team welcomed the Lions of Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) for a non-conference bout. The Vikings found themselves back in the win column, and improving to 4-6 on the season, after defeating the Lions by a tally of 69-60.

Ernidia Goncalves (Everett, Mass.) had another impressive showing for the blue and orange notching a game-high 26 points to go along with nine rebounds and two blocks while teammate, Liz Zaiter (Peabody, Mass.) added a double- double with 21 points and 13 boards. Lastly, Kylie Gates (Pembroke, Mass.) had her hands in a little bit of everything with eight points, eight assists, six steals, and six rebounds in tonight's win.

For the Lions, Alondra Jimenez (Sants Barbara, Calif.) recorded a double- double with 22 points and 15 rebounds to go along with five assists while Delaney Walker (Nampa, Idaho) added 12 points in the loss.

Both teams traded baskets to start the first before the Lions went on a 6-0 run to take the 12-6 lead with five minutes to play in the opening stanza. The Vikings used the next three minutes to chip away at the Lions advantage but with just over two minutes to play the Vikings still found themselves down by a tally of six. Behind the duo of Zaiter and Goncalves, Salem was able to tie the game at 16 before the Lions closed out the quarter scoring five unanswered points to go into the second with the game in their favor by a score of 21-16.

The Vikings wasted no time scoring four points in the opening minute to bring them within one point of the visitors. Then, shortly after, Ashley Lamia stole the ball and finished on the other end to give the Vikings their first lead (24-23) since the 7-minute mark of the first. From there both teams spent the remainder of the quarter trading baskets with the Lions slightly edging out the Vikings, 33-29, to enter the break.

Coming out of the half the Lions were able to hold the slight advantage over the Vikings until the halfway point when Abuk Teng (Manchester, N.H) went 2-2 from the charity stripe to give her team the one-point lead (40-39). The Lions would reclaim the lead one more time before the Vikings closed out the third on an 8-0 run to take the seven-point cushion (52-47) to start the final ten minutes of play.

With just under six minutes to play in the game the Lions went on a 8-0 run of their own, spearheaded by back-to-back Jimenez three-pointers, to make it a four-point game (60-56) and force the Vikings to call a timeout. Coming out of the break, Salem scored four unanswered points to give themselves some breathing room with 2:41 to play. From there the Lions would only tack one more bucket to their total before Salem iced the game out at the free throw line to take the 69-60 victory over the Lions.