Dec. 31, 2005

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - When Cleveland State needed a hero to step up Dominque Butler answered the bell for the Vikings as she poured in all 11 of her points in the final seven minutes as the Green and White snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 76-67 victory over Detroit in their Horizon League opener on Saturday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

Few critics could call the contest a masterpiece but for the Vikings (3-9 overall, 1-0 Horizon), despite surrendering a 20-point second-half lead, any victory is a welcome reward for the team's efforts on the court versus the Titans (3-10 overall, 0-2 Horizon).

Cleveland State made the most of its shots in the final 20 minutes as the Vikings connected for better than 58 percent (.583) from the field while hitting 11 of their 14 attempts at the charity stripe. On the afternoon, the Green and White finished the tilt tickling the twines at a .491 clip while holding Detroit to 41 percent shooting.

Leading by a score of 53-33 with 13:09 remaining, the Vikings seemed poised to secure their third victory of the campaign. The Titans though had other ideas and parlayed a 12-0 run over the next 1:58 to cut the deficit to eight, 53-45, with 11:11 remaining. Detroit kept plugging away as it went on to drain six triples down the stretch and twice knotted the score, with the last coming at the 3:56 mark, 63-63.

From that point on it was all Cleveland State as the Vikings outscored the Titans 13-4 to close out the game en route to only their sixth victory in 33 meetings with Detroit.

"Detroit never quits playing," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "In the first half we played good defense and got them to force some shots. Then in the second half they hit a couple of shots and got things going. We still have yet to put a full 40 minutes together, but we were able to weather the storm today.

"A lot of people stepped up for us today. When we had to have a shot down the stretch we were able to convert. Dominique was fantastic at the end of the game.

Omega Harrington led four CSU players in double figures as she registered a team-high 17 points. Joining her with double-digit performances were Brittany Korth, Nicole Thomas and Butler with 14, 12 and 11 tallies, respectively. Thomas proved to be an added threat on the glass as she recorded her first double-double of the season by pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.

Directing the Detroit offense was a career-best 23 points from Caitie Goddard while the Titans got 13-, 11- and 10-point performances from Lindsey Pasquinzo, Shawanna Stubblefield and Kelly Jaskot.

The battle of the boards went to the Vikings in the affair as the Green and White outrebounded the Titans, 36-31, including 23-17 on the defensive glass.

Cleveland State got solid shooting in the initial 20 minutes and parlayed a stingy defensive effort which forced 14 Detroit turnovers into a 37-21 halftime advantage. Connecting on nearly 42 percent (.419) of their shots from the floor in the first half, the Vikings drained five first-half three pointers. Harrington led all scorers in the initial stanza with nine points while Natalie Miller and Korth each chipped in eight.

The Vikings will return to action on January 5 when the Green and White travels to Chicago, Ill., for a showdown with UIC beginning at 5:00 p.m. CST.