Jan. 4, 2007

Final Stats

CHICAGO - Cleveland State committed a season-high 34 turnovers and shot just 21.1 percent in the second half (4-19) in a 72-46 loss at UIC on Thursday night. The Vikings drop to 4-12 overall and 1-2 in the Horizon League with their 20th consecutive road loss in league play, while the Flames improve to 7-8, 1-2.

"Obviously we're not going to win turning the ball over that many times," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "And then we compounded things in the second half by struggling to hit anything from the field. I think this may have been a wake-up call for some of our younger players that you have to be ready to play on the road in the league."

UIC's LaShonda Grant led all players with a season-high 26 points on the strength of a 5-for-8 effort from three-point. Krystal Hugelier added 10 points to become the 12th player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

Jessica Roque was the only CSU player to reach double-figures with 10 points, while Stephanie Youdath added eight points and a game-high seven rebounds.

The first half was a case of too many turnovers (19) and too much Grant (18 points) has the Vikings fell behind by 10 at the break. CSU led 13-10 with just under 14 minutes remaining in the half, but Grant nailed a three-pointer to start a 10-0 burst over the next four minutes that put the Flames up 20-13 at the 9:32 mark.

The Vikings narrowed the gap to five points (26-21) with just under three minutes left, only to have UIC close out the stanza with a 7-2 run, capped by a pair of Grant lay-ins in the final 42 seconds.

A 12-minute field goal drought proved to be CSU's undoing in the second half. The Vikings went from the 16:37 mark until 4:15 remaining without a basket, connecting on 12 free throws during the span to keep the game respectable (55-42).

However, the Flames closed the game with a 17-4 run to blow the game open.

Cleveland State continues its swing through Chicago with a 12:30 p.m. contest at Loyola on Saturday (Jan. 6).