Feb. 23, 2006

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - Cleveland State suffered a 75-62 loss at Butler on Thursday night in the final regular season contest for both schools. Indianapolis native Omega Harrington knocked down three three-pointers en route to 15 points to lead the Vikings.

With the loss, the Vikings (4-23, 2-14 HL) will be the ninth seed in the upcoming Horizon League Championship and will hit the road for one of two places on Tuesday, Feb. 28. If Loyola defeats UW-Milwaukee on the last day of the regular season (Feb. 25), CSU will travel to Youngstown State. However, if the Ramblers lose, CSU will visit Chicago for a rematch of last year's first round game with Loyola in which the Vikings were victorious, 62-55.

The first half was a yo-yo affair, as the Bulldogs (14-12, 9-6 HL) scored 12 of the game's first 14 points only to have CSU respond with a 13-3 run to knot the score at 15-15 at the 10:09 mark. Butler answered with a 16-4 burst of its own, eventually carrying a 37-26 lead into the break.

The Bulldogs built a 16-point bulge (47-31) five minutes into the second stanza and never let the Vikings get any closer than seven the remainder of the game.

Natalie Miller notched 14 points and five rebounds in her first career start for CSU, while Dominique Butler added nine points, five rebounds and three steals.

Butler's Lade Akande posted a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds, knocking down 10 of her 14 field goal attempts. Jackie Closser added 18 points and five assists.

"I thought we really competed hard for 40 minutes," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "We never got rattled and just kept fighting. Our young players showed a lot of promise, but we just didn't have an answer for Akande."

Both teams shot over 40 percent from the field, while the Bulldogs held a slim 36-29 advantage on the boards.