Dec. 30, 2006
Final Stats
Contact: Alan Ashby
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Kailey Klein scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half and Stephanie Youdath nearly equaled a school record with seven blocks as Cleveland State rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to claim a 60-47 win over Wright State on Saturday in the Wolstein Center.
Dominique Butler scored all 13 of her points in the second half with Brittany Korth connecting on three three-pointers as part of an 11-point effort. Brittney Whiteside led Wright State with 14 points while Tyanda Hammock added 10 points.
The loss snapped a five-game Viking losing streak to its southernly neighbors, extending CSU's lead in the all-time series to 26-21, including 13-8 at home.
The Vikings (4-11, 1-1) were two different teams in the contest. They struggled to put anything together offensively in the first half, shooting a meager .261 from the field (6-23), committing 10 turnovers and being out-rebounded, 20-17. Things came together in the second half as the Vikings shot .433 (13-3), owned a commanding 24-15 rebound edge and committed just six turnovers.
"We had a little trouble early against their aggressive defense, but adjusted as the game went along," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "I thought we showed a lot of composure today. I like how our defense is carrying us right now -- we're doing a much better job of stopping what the other team wants to do."
Three days after finishing by making just two of their final 28 shots in a disappointing loss to Butler, CSU struggled again offensively in the opening half, making just six of their 23 field goal attempts (.261) to trail 24-18 at the break. CSU never lead in the first half, tying the game twice (3-3 & 16-16) and trailing by as many as seven points on several occasions.
The tide turned after the intermission as the Vikings out-scored the Raiders, 17-4 over the first 6:40 to wrestle control of the game away from Wright State.
The offense clicked immediately at the start of the half as the shots that rimmed out during the first 20 minutes found the hole during the second 20. An indication of how well CSU would play offensively came in the opening seconds as Kailey Klein put back her own miss at the 19:38 mark to open the scoring burst.
The run continued when a Nicole Thomas steal led to a pair of Stephanie Youdath free throws and Klein buried a short jumper the next trip down the court to even the game at 24-24 just 1:28 into the half.
When Thomas scored in the lane at the 17:45 mark, CSU led for the first time, 26-24.
And the Vikings would not trail again, extending the lead to 10 (43-33) with 8:21 left and never being seriously threatened down the stretch.
CSU, which made just five of its 10 free throws (.500) in the first half, was a perfect 14-for-14 in the final 20 minutes, shooting .792 (19-24) for the game.
Klein, who scored 21 points against Butler on Wednesday, keyed the comeback by going five-for-12 from the field with seven rebounds in the second half.
Youdath led the defensive effort making five of her seven blocks in the first half, falling one block short of the school record of eight set by Jessica Toth in 1993-94. Despite playing in just 10 of CSU's 15 games, the Mentor, Ohio native leads the Horizon League with 25 blocked shots this season.
After a short break to ring in the new year, the Vikings will continue their Horizon League schedule next week when they play road games at UIC on Thursday (Jan. 4) and Loyola on Saturday (Jan. 6), starting a stretch that has CSU playing five of its six January games on the road.
