Nov. 24, 2006

Final Stats

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Cleveland State played solid defense, but could not overcome a massive deficit at the free throw line as the Vikings fell, 62-52, to Long Island in the first game of the Turkey Classic on Friday afternoon. With the loss, CSU falls to 1-4 on the year, while the host Blackbirds improve to 2-3.

The Vikings shot just 38.0 percent from the field (19-50), but held LIU to an even lower 34.7 percent effort (17-49) in addition to grabbing a slight edge on the boards (37-33). The difference in the game however, proved to be at the free throw line, where the Blackbirds were 25-for-30, while CSU was just 10-for-12.

"I thought this was our best defensive of the season, we just couldn't get a few calls to go our way," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "We turned the ball over way too much in the first half and that caused us to be tentative after halftime. We became too conservative and played a much slower pace than we would have liked."

Freshman Jessica Roque led the Vikings with a career-high 17 points and three steals, while sophomore Natalie Miller tallied a season-high 14 points and a career-high seven rebounds a day after her 20th birthday.

LIU's Marquita Thompson scored a game-high 20 points despite going 4-12 from the field as she went 12-for-14 from the free throw line. Valerie Nainima added 13 points.

The first half was a tale of good news-bad news, as the Vikings committed a whopping 17 turnovers but still only trailed by five at the break as CSU limited the Blackbirds to just 36.7 percent shooting from the floor (11-30). Jessica Roque paced the Vikings with eight points in the stanza, while Thompson led LIU with nine points.

Cleveland State battled back in the early stages of the second half, knotting the score at 37-37 with 13:15 remaining. The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes before a six-minute dry spell by the Vikings allowed the Blacksbirds to open up a 55-41 advantage with just 3:54 left to play. CSU cut the deficit to just five (57-52) at the 2:06 mark, but could get no closer as LIU went 7-for-8 from the charity stripe to close out the game.

The Vikings will face the loser of the College of Charleston-South Alabama game in Saturday's consolation contest beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST.