The Exira-EHK Spartans built a lead as big as 18 over the CAM Cougars on Tuesday night in a big top ten battle but needed a late free throw to grab the win. The Spartans lead 50-32 late in the third quarter but the Cougars clawed their way back to a tie game at 57 in the final minute on a Zoey Baylor bucket. Quinn Grubbs was able to draw a foul on the next possession and made 1 of 2 free throws to put the Spartans back on top. Zoey Baylor had a look at a go ahead bucket with about 10 seconds left but it rolled off. Shay Burmeister secured the rebound after a scramble and outlet the ball to allow the Spartans to run the clock down to .2 of a second before the Cougars could foul. Alisa Partridge added one more free throw to cap off the 59-57 win.

The Spartans jumped out front early with some great transition offense, turning CAM turnovers and misses into scoring chances on the other end. The Spartans led 20-10 at the end of the first and were up 34-25 at half. It was a 15 point Spartan lead heading into the fourth.

The Spartans were led by 29 from Quinn Grubbs including 11 of 15 from the free throw line. Macy Emgarten added 12 before fouling out late in the game. Exira-EHK improves to 9-0 on the season and will host Boyer Valley on Friday.

CAM got 16 points from freshman Eva Steffensen who had to battle through some second half foul trouble. Fellow freshman Meredith Rich had 12 on four three point makes. The Cougars suffer their first loss of the year and are now 8-1. They will travel to Paton-Churdan on Friday.