Dec. 19, 2006

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - Sooner or later, the ball was going to bounce the right way for the frustrated Viking women's basketball team. Fortunately, that night came on Tuesday as CSU rebounded from one of its coldest-shooting periods of the season to first catch -- and then surge past -- IUPUI, 51-37, in the Wolstein Center.

The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Vikings, improving CSU to 3-10 on the season. IUPUI dropped to 5-6.

Jessica Roque led CSU with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Brittany Korth added 10 points, six rebounds and three helpers. Jernisha Cann paced the Jaguars with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The 37 points allowed represent the best defensive effort by a Viking squad since a 62-24 victory over Ashland on Feb. 8, 1983 and is the second-lowest point total allowed against a Division I opponent in the 34-year history of the program - bettered only in a 58-27 win at Toledo on Jan. 6, 1979.

"Give our kids credit," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "We weren't executing very well in the first half on the offensive end, but we kept working hard on defense and kept IUPUI off balance too.

"Once we started executing, we really got into the flow of things and started making shots. I really thought that we made good decisions with the ball down the stretch. We set up our offense and were patient."

The Vikings started the contest out on a miserable shooting note, making just two of their first 18 field goal attempts (.111), including a stretch of 14 consecutive misses over an 11 minute period in the middle of the half.

Fortunately for CSU, IUPUI was not much better as the Jaguars could manage just .231 shooting in the first half (6-26), failing to take advantage of the CSU offensive woes.

The Viking shooting slump finally ended at the 6:45 mark when Stephanie Youdath scored in the lane, pulling CSU to within three (10-7).

The offense worked like clockwork after that as the Vikings connected on six of their remaining 10 first half shots to build a 19-14 halftime lead. Jessica Roque did most of the damage, scoring nine of CSU's final 12 points in the half.

The lead grew to 21-14 on a pair of Thomas free throws in the opening minute of the second half before the Jaguars ran off 10 of the next 12 points to take a 24-23 lead with 15:16 left.

The lead would be short-lived as Robyn Hoying would give the Vikings the lead for good on a three-pointer at the 12:06 mark (29-26). Angel Roque quickly followed with a trey and Natalie Miller added a basket inside to extend the lead to 34-26 with 10:46 remaining.

IUPUI finally answered with a basket from Tiffany Finkton with 9:29 left, but a three-point play by Miller and a basket from Korth extended the CSU advantage to 39-28 with 7:37 left.

The Jaguars would come no closer than eight points the rest of the way (45-37 with 1:38 left) as CSU used a patient offense and tight interior defense to stifle any IUPUI comeback attempts.

The Vikings rebounded from their initial shooting slump to make 15 of their last 33 field goal attempts, shooting .333 for the match (17-51). IUPUI never warmed offensively, finishing the contest shooting .239 from the field (16-67), including a one-for-14 effort from three-point.

"While it's just one win, it really gives us a big boost mentally," Peterson said. "Now we can go home and get ready to open league play on a positive note."

Cleveland State will take a nine-day break for the Christmas holiday before opening Horizon League play against Butler on Thursday, Dec. 28 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.