Jan. 27, 2006

Contact: Alan Ashby

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Game #19
at UW-Milwaukee (10-8, 5-2 HL)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 28, 2006
Site: Milwaukee, Wis.
Arena: Klotsche Center (5,000)
Tip-off: 2:00 p.m. CST
Series: UW-Milwaukee leads 16-12
Live Stats: www.csuvikings.com
Watch: www.horizonleague.org

The Opening Tip: Cleveland State (3-15, 1-6 HL) closes out a three-game road trip on Saturday as the Vikings wrap up the season series with UW-Milwaukee. The Vikings have not won in the Klotsche Center since the 1998-99 season.

A Look At The Series: UW-Milwaukee has won 10 of the last 12 meetings with Cleveland State to claim a 16-12 advantage in the all-time series. The Vikings are 4-8 against the Panthers in Milwaukee, having dropped their last six contests in the Klotsche Center.

A Glance At The Vikings: Cleveland State heads into Saturday's game having dropped its last six Horizon League contests. The Vikings are shooting .391 from the field and have knocked down 33.6 percent of their three-point attempts. Omega Harrington (11.9 ppg) leads the team in scoring, while Dominique Butler (9.2) and Erin Martin (8.6) follow closely behind. Nicole Thomas paces the squad in rebounds (5.4), while Martin is tops in assists (4.22) and Butler leads in steals (2.28).

Noting The Panthers: UW-Milwaukee enters Saturday's contest at 10-8 overall and 5-2 in the league. The second-place Panthers had their five-game winning streak snapped on Thursday in a 69-67 loss at Wright State. UWM is shooting .431 from the field en route to posting a 67.6 scoring average, while its opponents are averaging 70.7 points on a .430 field goal percentage. Traci Edwards is third in the league in scoring (16.2) and first in rebounding (10.3) to pace the Panthers. Nichole Drummond is second on the team in scoring (11.2), while Molly O'Brien is averaging 9.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. Head coach Sandy Botham is 153-118 in 10 seasons in Milwaukee and 175-122 in 11 years overall.

Petrecca To Enter Hall: This Saturday, Mary Petrecca will become the ninth women's basketball player to be enshrined in the CSU Athletics Hall of Fame. Joining her in this year's class are Matt Ghaffari (wrestling, 1983-84), Tim Holden (baseball, 1970, 1972-73) and Joe Kaderabek (baseball, 1963-66). Petrecca, a four-year starter on the women's basketball team from 1983-86, currently ranks fourth all-time in rebounding (869), seventh in scoring (1,229) and eighth in blocked shots (60). She averaged in double figures in each of her first three seasons and grabbed at least 190 rebounds in every season. She was honored as the team's Most Outstanding Player as a senior in 1985-86. When she graduated in 1987, she ranked second in school history in points, rebounds and blocks.

Three-Point Barrage: Omega Harrington matched the school record with seven three-pointers en route to a career-high 29 points on Thursday at UW-Green Bay. Erin Martin and Mahogany Green (twice) are the other two players to accomplish the feat. Her 7-for-10 performance from behind the arc was good for the sixth-best percentage in school history (.700). Harrington's stand-out performance is indicative of how CSU's last three meetings with the Phoenix have gone as the teams have combined to knock down 68 triples over that span.

Deja Vu All Over Again: Due to a scheduling quirk, the Vikings are facing UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee for the second time in two weeks. CSU will close out the season series with the Phoenix and Panthers before playing either Butler or Wright State once.

Triple Threat: Cleveland State heads into Saturday's game having made a three-point field goal in 376 consecutive contests -- the longest active run in the nation and the second-longest streak ever. Louisville (394 games) ranks first all-time in NCAA annals, although the Cardinals had their streak come to an end during the 2004-05 campaign. The last time the Vikings failed to drain at least one three-pointer in a game was in a 78-55 loss at Cincinnati on Dec. 17, 1992. CSU has made 2,245 triples during the run, an average of 6.0 per game. The 1995-96 team led the nation in three-pointers made per game with 8.5.

Charity In The League: Cleveland State's concentration at the free throw line appears to have gone up since the start of Horizon League play. Through seven games, the Vikings rank second in the league with a .711 percentage, knocking down 69 of their 97 attempts. In its 11 non-conference games, CSU hit just 66.4 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe (101-152).

Stolen Property: Since recording just five steals in the opener at Wisconsin, the Vikings have notched double-digit thefts in 13 of their last 17 games, including a season-high 17 swipes against Robert Morris on Dec. 28. CSU, which had just five double-figure steal games all of last season, ranks third in the league and 35th in the nation (as of Jan. 23) with 10.89 steals. Dominique Butler, Erin Martin and Brittany Korth lead the way with 41, 36 and 34 thefts, respectively. The Vikings are just 11 steals shy of their 29-game total from last season.

Bring A Kid: Cleveland State basketball is teaming up with the NCAA for its annual "Take a Kid to the Game" day. On Saturday, Feb. 4, the Vikings will face Butler in a Horizon League match-up, with tip-off set for 3:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. With the purchase of one adult ticket, fans will receive one youth ticket free. Learn more information about "Take a Kid to the Game" day by visiting TAKG.com.

Help Celebrate CSU's Women's Sports: Cleveland State will host the sixth annual Celebration of Women's Sports on Friday, Feb. 3. The event serves as the primary fundraiser for the Women's Athletic Fund, which supports all of CSU's women's teams. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of the Wolstein Center and features a grazing dinner, reverse raffles and live and silent auction items including autographed memorabilia, a trip to the Dominican Republic, hotel and restaurant packages and much more. Tickets are $50 and include dinner and two drink tickets.
Cleveland State sponsors nine varsity women's sports, with over 100 female student-athletes participating in basketball, cross country, fencing, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis and volleyball. For tickets or more information, contact Amy Pappas at (216) 685-1441 or amy@azaevents.net.

Internet Provides Limitless Horizons: Under a new plan put in place during the off-season, all Horizon League women's conference games will be available via video streaming on the League's official web site at www.horizonleague.org. All games will be shown live on the web through a new partnership with College Sports TV Online, which also is the web provider for five league schools as well as the conference office. The service, which a available for free, can be accessed on www.CSUVikings.com or via the League's web site. Each broadcast will feature the radio play-by-play of the host school and video taken from at least three camera angles. For a complete schedule of all games, log on to www.horizonleague.org.

Page-Turner: The old saying goes: Don't judge a book by its cover. Omega Harrington is proof enough of that. In Cleveland State's two exhibition games, she went 1-for-10 from the floor and 0-for-4 from three-point range en route to scoring just five points. The Indianapolis native has completely turned things around so far in the regular season, leading the Vikings and ranking 13th in the league in scoring at 11.9 ppg. She has paced the team in scoring nine times and posted double-figure totals 11 times this year, including a career-high 29-point effort at UW-Green Bay on Jan. 26 and 17 points in the Dec. 31 victory over Detroit.

Harrington Has Been On The Mark Too: A 32 percent shooter last year from both the field and behind the arc, Omega Harrington has raised her shooting accuracy so far this season, ranking fourth in three-point percentage (.450) while connecting on 40.0 percent of her shots overall. She has knocked down at least one three-pointer in every game this season (ranking third in the league at 2.50), after draining a triple in 15-of-21 contests last year.

As Multidimensional As Ever: While Erin Martin may be struggling with her shot -- she's averaging 8.6 points on 30.6 percent shooting -- that hasn't taken away from the rest of her game. A preseason second team All-Horizon League selection, Martin ranks fourth in the league in assists (4.22), 16th in rebounds (4.6), seventh in steals (2.0) and 13th in assists-to-turnover ratio (1.10). The Canfield, Ohio native had 17 points, a career-high tying eight assists and five steals at Youngstown State on Jan. 19 and nearly posted her first career triple-double on Dec. 11 against Western Michigan, recording 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Martin is 48 points shy of becoming the 19th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.

Thomas Hits Boards Hard: Despite playing just a little over 21 minutes a game, Nicole Thomas has still managed to rank among the Horizon League's defensive leaders. Playing with a healthy back this year, she ranks 11th in rebounding (5.4), seventh in offensive rebounds (2.0), 12th in defensive boards (3.44) and 14th in blocked shots (0.39). She is also shooting .522 (35-67) from the floor (but does not have enough field goals to qualify for the league leaders). Included in her solid performance was a career-high tying and then league season-best 13 rebounds on Dec. 22 against Ohio and her second career double-double versus Detroit (12P, 10R) on Jan. 31.

Head Coach Kate Peterson: The sixth head coach in 33 seasons of Viking women's basketball, Kate Peterson is 19-56 (.253) in her third season directing the Cleveland State program. In 2003-04, she guided the Vikings to a 12-16 record, including a school-record nine league wins. Prior to her arrival in Cleveland, Peterson spent six years as an assistant at Wisconsin, serving as the recruiting coordinator starting in 1998. She also worked at Eastern Illinois (1993-97) and Indiana (1991-93). A 1991 graduate of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, she earned Kodak All-America honors her senior season after setting the NCAA Division III record for three-point field goals per game at 3.85.

The Butler Did It: Freshman guard Dominique Butler came into Cleveland State as one of the most highly-recruited players in the program's history. Rated the 20th-best shooting guard in the nation as a high school senior by All-Star Girls Report, she stands 24th in the league in scoring (9.2), ninth in field goal percentage at .493, third in steals (2.28) and 11th in blocks (0.56). The Milwaukee native made her collegiate debut by leading the Vikings with a career-high 14 points in a team-high 30 minutes off the bench at Wisconsin on Nov. 20. Since then, Butler has gone on to lead the team in scoring four more times, shooting above 50.0 percent on 10 occasions. She tallied seven points and three steals in her first career start on Dec. 22 against Ohio and posted all 11 of her points (5-5 FGs) in the final 6:42 on Dec. 31 to help stave off a late Detroit rally.

Vikings Lose To League-Leading Phoenix: UW-Green Bay cruised to its tenth straight victory, matching the school record with 16 three-pointers en route to a 76-52 victory over Cleveland State on Thursday night. Omega Harrington scored a career-high 29 points to pace the Vikings, knocking down a school record tying seven threes in the process. CSU trailed 20-15 eight minutes into the game, before the Phoenix went on a 17-2 run to push the advantage to 20. The Vikings whittled the deficit to 11 at the half (39-28), but a 17-5 Green Bay burst to open the second stanza put the game out of reach. Natalie Berglin led the Phoenix with 16 points and 13 assists.

Wilson Has Her Way: Junior college transfer Chenara Wilson was recruited to give the Vikings more of an offensive presence in the paint. On Jan. 14 against UW-Milwaukee, she erupted for a career-high 18 points in 24 minutes of play, knocking down nine of her 14 field goal attempts. In CSU's seven league games, she is shooting 55.2 percent from the field (16-29).

Miller Has Breakout Game: Natalie Miller had the best day of her young career on Jan. 7 at Loyola. The Dover, Ohio native went 7-for-9 from the field, setting career-bests for points (15) and rebounds (5) in a career-high 25 minutes of action. In Cleveland State's seven league games, she is averaging 6.9 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 63.3 percent from the floor (19-30).

In Celebration of Dr. King: In recognition of the honorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Horizon League held its second annual Martin Luther King Celebration in conjunction with six league basketball games played from Jan. 14-16. Each host institution chose a local elementary school to implement a contest among upper-elementary students involving essay, music or art to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. Fifteen winners from Marion Sterling Elementary in Cleveland were recognized prior to the Jan. 14 tip-off with UW-Milwaukee. The winners were accompanied by student-athletes from each team during pregame introductions and received complementary tickets to the game, a commemorative T-shirt from the Horizon League and Margaret Davidson's book entitled I Have a Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King.

NCAA Regional Comes To Cleveland: Cleveland State continues its tradition of hosting first class NCAA events when the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship comes to Cleveland for the first time. Along with the Mid-American Conference, CSU will welcome four of the nation's top teams to Quicken Loans Arena on March 26 & 28, 2006 for the Cleveland Regional. All-session tickets are available and range in price from $20 for the three games, up to $60 for the best seats in the house. If available, single session tickets may go on sale the week of the competition. Call 216-420-2200 for an order form or for additional information or log on to www.theqarena.com to download a ticket brochure.

Home Cooking: Cleveland State's schedule features a record 14 home games. Prior to this year, the Vikings had played 13 regular season home games on eight occasions, the most recent time coming in 2003-04.

Non-Conference Schedule Poses Stern Test: Eighth-ranked Connecticut may have been the most noteworthy of CSU's early season opponents, but when a 4-0 Central Michigan rolled into town on Dec. 3, it meant that five of the Vikings' first six opponents were undefeated at the time of the game. The Chippewas joined Wisconsin (1-0), Hillsdale (3-0), the Huskies (4-0) and St. Bonaventure (3-0) in facing CSU with a spotless mark.

Charity Starts At Home: Cleveland State head women's basketball coach Kate Peterson came up with a unique way to help break the Viking women's attendance record. When CSU hosted No. 8 Connecticut in front of a record 2,948 fans on Nov. 27, Peterson donated $1 for every person in attendance (until the previous record of 2,173 was broken) to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Peterson presented a check to JDRF for $2,174 during the the men's game against John Carroll on Dec. 22 to recognize freshman guard Natalie Miller, who suffers from the disease. JDRF is the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 diabetes research worldwide. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Type 1 diabetes is a disease which strikes in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood, but lasts a lifetime. JDRF provided more than $98 million to diabetes research in the 2005 fiscal year, and is responsible for more than $900 million in direct funding since it was founded.

Straight Shooters: The Vikings' .563 field goal percentage (27-48) in the Nov. 23 win over Hillsdale was good for the third-best mark in school history. The school-record of .627 (32-51) was set at on Jan. 21, 1980, while the second-best mark of .569 (29-51) came against Chicago State on Nov. 22, 1997. Cleveland State was accurate in every facet against the Chargers, knocking down 58.3 percent (7-12) of its three-pointers (tied for fifth-best in school history) and 80.0 percent of its free throws (16-20).

Four Ink With Vikings: The continued building of Cleveland State's women's basketball program received a big boost with the signing of four players during the recent early signing period. Kate Peterson made the announcement on Nov. 30.
Kailey Klein (Cherry, Ill.), twin sisters Angel and Jessica Roque (Mississauga, Ontario) and Stephanie Crosley (Milwaukee, Wis.) have signed National Letters of Intent to attend Cleveland State and play basketball beginning in the fall of 2006.
Klein averaged 22.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 5.4 steals as a junior at Hall High School en route to earning multiple all-state honors. A 5-11 guard/forward, she was the Peoria Journal Star Class A Player of the Year in 2005 and a two-time first team all-conference pick. A gifted athlete, she was honorable mention all-state in volleyball and reached the state finals in discus (2004 & `05) and as a member of the 800-meter relay team (2005).
Angel Roque, a 5-5 point guard, was named a 2005 Top Five All-Star by the Toronto Sun. She is averaging 15.0 points, 10.0 assists and 7.0 steals this year to lead Father Michael Goetz High School to a 32-2 record. She was a member of the Ontario provincial team that claimed the gold medal at the national tournament in 2003 and 2004.
Jessica Roque is currently averaging 17.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 3.0 steals for Father Michael Goetz and was recently invited to train with the Canadian Junior National Team in late December. A 5-7 shooting guard (and three minutes older than her sister), Jessica joined Angel as a Toronto Sun 2005 Top Five All-Star -- the first time a pair of teammates have received the honor in the same season.
Crosley, a 5-11 forward at King High School, was a first team all-conference and honorable mention all-area selection last year after averaging 13.8 points. She led the team in scoring (13.6 ppg) as a sophomore, earning second team all-conference accolades.

Double Your Pleasure: After playing four twin bills last year, the men's and women's teams will share three dates at home in 2005-06, the second of which comes on Thursday. They are:
Date Women's Game Men's Game
12/22 Ohio (L, 64-76) John Carroll (W, 84-53)
1/12 UW-Green Bay (L, 51-66) Detroit (W, 59-52/OT)
2/18 Loyola Bracket Buster

Women's Hoops On The Radio: For the second year in a row, the women's basketball team will have all of its home games broadcast live over the internet. The women's program made it's inaugural appearance over the airwaves towards the end of the 2003-04 campaign and has grown its visibility ever since.
David Wilson will serve as the voice of the Vikings for the third straight year. The Chagrin Falls resident doubles as the voice of the Lake County Captains (a Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians). Cleveland State recently announced a partnership with WHK 1420 AM to broadcast all of the Vikings' postseason action live over the airwaves.

Like Father, Like Daughter: Viking basketball has an interesting first this year as Dave and Stephanie Youdath are believed to be the first father-daughter combination to each suit up for Cleveland State. Dave, who lettered all four seasons from 1981-84 and was named Varsity "C" Player of the Year in both 1983 and `84, currently ranks 10th in school history with 1,306 career points. Stephanie, a 6-4 sophomore from Eastlake North High School, played her freshman season at Marist College and will sit out the 2005-06 season after transferring to CSU for the fall semester.

Up Next: Cleveland State kicks off the final month of the regular season by returning home to host a pair of Horizon League games. The Vikings will welcome Wright State to the Wolstein Center on Thursday, Feb. 2, before taking on Butler two days later.