Jan. 20, 2007

Final Stats

MILWAUKEE - UW-Milwaukee needed nearly every one of Traci Edwards' school-record 42 points as Cleveland State battled the Panthers down to the wire, before eventually succumbing, 75-68, on Saturday afternoon. The loss drops the Vikings to 5-15 overall and 2-4 in the Horizon League, while UWM improves to 9-10, 5-1.

Edwards also set school records for field goals (17) and attempts (33) in addition to going 8-for-11 from the free throw line, while pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds.

Kailey Klein had 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting to pace the Vikings, while Dominique Butler added 18 points, nine rebounds and four steals and Chenara Wilson tallied 14 points.

"Give Traci Edwards credit on a great game, but we let her get too many offensive rebounds that she was able to turn into easy baskets," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "At the same time, her teammates also hit some pretty big three-pointers as well.

"I was proud with the way we fought back in the second half and we're able to take one of the best teams in the league down to the wire on their home court. I think that will help us down the road as long as we continue to improve."

CSU played well in the first half, as Klein paced the Vikings with 11 points and Wilson added eight as part of a 50.0 percent shooting effort from the floor (14-28).

However, that was barely enough to offset Edwards, who went 8-for-19 from the field and 5-of-7 from the line en route to scoring 21 points.

The Vikings led 18-10 at the 12:29 mark before a quick 7-0 burst by the Panthers. CSU answered with six straight to regain a seven-point advantage (24-17) with 7:57 remaining. Edwards would then score 10 of her points over the remainder of the stanza to draw UWM within one (33-32) heading into the locker room.

The Panthers came out firing in the second half, opening with a 21-7 jaunt to claim a 53-40 lead at the 14:57 mark. Edwards had four baskets during the run, while UWM knocked down three triples as well.

CSU answered right back with a 20-7 run to knot the score at 60-60 at the 5:50 mark, as Klein scored five straight and Butler followed with 10 in a row.

With the Vikings trailing by one (67-66) and two minutes remaining, Emily Markert knocked down UWM's ninth three-pointer of the game. Following a CSU miss, Edwards converted at the other end to effectively put the game out of reach.

Both teams shot 44 percent from the field for the game, while the Vikings held a 38-34 advantage on the boards. However, the Panthers connected on half of their three-point attempts (9-18), while CSU went just 2-for-9 from behind the arc.

Cleveland State is off for a week before traveling to Youngstown State on Saturday (Jan. 27) for a 2:05 p.m. tip.