Dec. 10, 2006

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - Akron's Sarah Tokodi drove the length of the court and hit a runner in the lane with 3.3 seconds left to give the Zips a 61-59 victory over Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon in the Wolstein Center. Sophomore Dominique Butler had rallied the Vikings back from a seven-point deficit in the final minute of the game, only to have CSU (2-9) come up just short in losing for the fourth straight time.

Trailing 59-52 following a Niki McCoy free throw with 52 seconds remaining, Butler started the comeback with a lay-up at the 45-second mark. Employing a full-court press, Butler picked off an errant pass by the Zips, was fouled as she laid the ball in and converted the free throw to cut the margin to just two with 31 seconds left.

Forced to press again, Butler delivered with her fourth steal of the game. Following a CSU timeout, Butler got free in the lane and tied the game with 12 seconds remaining on her third basket in a 33-second span.

Eschewing a timeout, Tokodi took the ball the length of the court and weaved down the left side of the lane, eventually hitting the tough game-winning runner to propel Akron (4-5) to its third consecutive win. The Vikings were unable to get off a shot before time expired.

"I'm pleased with our comeback and that fact that we didn't give up," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "But at the same time, I'm disappointed that we put ourselves in a position to win on our home court and were not smart with the ball."

The Vikings appeared to take control of the game midway through the second half, using a 10-0 run to surge ahead 46-40 at the 13:11 mark. Senior Chenara Wilson contributed six points during the burst, while freshman Jessica Roque contributed the other four points.

CSU's offense then went dormant as the Zips responded with a 15-1 run over the next 7:10 to take a seemingly-commanding 55-47 advantage with 5:46 remaining. The Vikings went 0-for-9 from the floor, while committing seven turnovers during the run. The dry spell led to CSU shooting just 28.6 percent (8-28) in the second half.

As has been the case most of the season, the Vikings fell behind early as Akron opened up an 11-2 lead five minutes into the game. However, CSU answered back with a 10-0 burst over the next four minutes as five different players contributed to the run.

"We need to learn how to start the game strong and not always have to be digging ourselves out of a hole," Peterson said. "I'm not sure why we always seem to come out so slow."

After trading baskets for the next five minutes, the Zips used a McCoy jumper and a three-pointer from Allison Schoff to forge a 25-20 advantage with 4:38 left in the half. Once again, the Vikings had an answer as Stephanie Youdath scored eight of her 15 first half points to fuel a 10-2 run to put CSU up 30-27 at the 2:24 mark.

Schoff, who led Akron with nine points in the stanza, drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to knot the score at 34-34 heading into the locker room.

Youdath finished with a game- and career-high 16 points and three blocks, while Butler tallied 13 points, five rebounds and four steals.

McCoy paced Akron with 11 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Tokodi added 10 points, four assists and four steals.

Both teams struggled to find their range all afternoon long in a game that featured nine ties and eight lead changes. CSU shot 38.8 percent from the floor (19-49) and 60.6 percent from the line (20-33), while Akron was no better off at 36.2 percent from the floor (21-58) and 60.9 percent from the line (14-23).

Cleveland State is off for six days before traveling to Charlottesville, Va. on Dec. 16 for a 7:00 p.m. contest at Virginia.