March 7, 2007

Final Stats

CHICAGO - Seventh-seeded Cleveland State made just four of its first 23 shots as No. 2 UIC cruised to a 69-50 victory in Horizon League Championship quarterfinal action on Wednesday night at the UIC Pavilion. The Vikings' season comes to a close at 8-21, while the Flames (19-11) move on to face No. 3 Butler in the semifinals on Friday (March 9) in Green Bay, Wis.

CSU scored the first basket of the game, but then went scoreless over the next six minutes as UIC opened up a 13-2 advantage. The Flames maintained a double-digit cushion for nearly the entire half en route to taking a 41-25 lead into the locker room.

A 13-6 burst to open the second stanza all but put the game out of reach for UIC, which pushed the margin to as much as 28 (66-38) late in the game.

"I'm disappointed that the season ended this way because we'd come so far and we're playing well at end of the regular season," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said. "The way we played tonight was not indicative of what we're capable of doing. We had to work awfully hard for our baskets and they were getting to the basket for high percentage shots."

The Flames shot 39 percent for the contest (25-64), while limiting the Vikings to a 29 percent effort (20-69) from the floor, including a 1-for-15 performance from three-point.

LaShonda Grant dominated play for UIC, totaling 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in just 16 minutes. Jacquay Holmes added 14 points.

Kailey Klein was the only CSU play in double-figures, finishing with 10 points, while Nicole Thomas pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.