Feb. 15, 2007

Final Stats

CLEVELAND - Cleveland State snapped a six-game losing streak against UW-Milwaukee, using a stifling defense to pull out a 57-54 victory on Thursday night in the Wolstein Center. Chenara Wilson equaled her career-high with 18 points to lead all scorers.

The Vikings (7-18, 4-8 HL) limited the Panthers to a 15-for-50 effort from the floor (30.0 percent), including a 5-for-24 performance (20.8 percent) from beyond the three-point line. CSU was able to overcome 27 turnovers thanks in part to a 43-36 advantage on the boards against the league's top rebounding team.

The game hinged on the Vikings' ability to contain Traci Edwards, who finished with just 16 points and six rebounds - a far cry from her 42-point, 14-rebound effort in a 75-68 victory over CSU on Jan. 20 in Milwaukee. Edwards went just 4-for-7 from the floor on Thursday, after connecting on 17 of her 33 field goal attempts just a little under a month ago.

"I thought the key tonight was the fact that our players executed perfectly what we wanted them to do defensively," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "Chenara and Robyn [Hoying] did a great job all night long on Edwards. Our game plan was to take them out of their comfort zone and make them beat us at the three-point line."

Cleveland State came out strong in the first 10 minutes, opening up a 21-15 advantage as Wilson scored 10 early points. However, both teams went cold for the rest of the stanza before Angel Roque eventually knocked down a three-pointer with 21 second remaining to give the Vikings a 29-19 lead heading into the locker room.

After Edwards opened the second half with a lay-up, CSU rattled off seven in a row to take its biggest lead of the game (36-21) at the 16:12 mark, as Wilson sandwiched a pair of jumpers around another triple by Angel Roque.

Unfortunately, the Vikings would score just three points over the next eight minutes as UWM (11-13, 7-4 HL) fought back to draw within two (39-37) with 8:26 remaining.

Jessica Roque stopped the bleeding with a jumper that kicked off a 7-0 burst as CSU appeared to take a commanding 46-37 lead with 5:35 left in the game.

However, the Vikings went through another dry spell, as Emily Markert scored seven points as part of an 11-2 run that allowed the Panthers to knot the score at 48-48 at the 2:42 mark.

After trading free throws, Dominique Butler hit a jumper and Nicole Thomas added a free throw to put CSU up three (53-50) with 35 seconds remaining.

After an Edwards bucket, Butler countered with two free throws. Aubri Rote answered with a pair from the stripe, only to have Butler knock down two more freebies to give the Vikings a 57-54 lead with only 12 seconds left to play.

Both teams would then miss a pair at the line and Milwaukee could not get off a shot to end the game.

Angel Roque was the only other Viking in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Brittany Korth added a career-high seven assists, four steals and three rebounds, while Thomas tallied seven points and a game-high eight rebounds. Butler notched nine points -- the clinching free throws -- and six boards.

"Brit had one of the best games of her career - she was really great with her decision-making tonight," Peterson said. "We struggled a bit at times offensively, but we never stopped fighting and Dom knocked down a couple of big free throws at the end."

Edwards was the only Panther in double-figures, while Jody Crumble tallied nine points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Cleveland State has little time to relax as the Vikings will host 25th-ranked UW-Green Bay (20-3, 11-0 HL) on Saturday (Feb. 17) at 3:00 p.m.