Jan. 12, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Milwaukee outscored Cleveland State, 41-22, in the second half to claim a 63-52 victory over the Vikings in Horizon League action Saturday afternoon in the Klotsche Center.
It is just the second time CSU has lost a game this year when leading at the half (8-2).
Milwaukee improved to 8-7 overall and 3-1 in league play, while the Vikings, who dropped their second straight contest, slipped to 8-7 (2-2 HL).
"We had felt that coming into the roadtrip that we needed to establish our defensive identity and force the other teams to make mistakes," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "I thought we caught Milwaukee off guard with our pressure on the perimeter."
Dominique Butler, a native of Milwaukee who was playing in front of several family and friens, led the Vikings in her homecoming game with 13 points and eight rebounds, while Brittany Korth added 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Traci Edwards, who came into the game leading the league in scoring, finished with a game-high 19 points and six rebounds. She scored 14 in the second half. Maurika Hickman added 11 points off the bench, while Jodie McClain added nine markers.
The Vikings started out strong from the field, hitting eight of their first 10 shots to take an 18-5 lead with 12:39 left on a breakaway layup by Angel Roque. However, the Vikings hit a cold spell after that missing their next nine shots as the Panthers crept back into the game by scoring the next 10 points, which made it 18-15 with just over eight minutes to play.
CSU finally stopped its scoreless streak, which lasted 7:20, when Kailey Klein hit a layup that sparked a 6-1 Viking run to push the lead back eight points (24-16). The Vikings settled on an eight point advantage at halftime, 30-22, behind 10 points from Korth.
However, the Panthers began to rally in the second half and tied the score for the first time in the game with 10:40 to play as Hickman hit a three-pointer to make it 40-40.
The score changed hands six times in the next three minutes, but Edwards converted a layup with 7:03 to play that gave the Panthers a 48-47 lead and they would not relinquish it the rest of the afternoon.
Edwards went on to score six of Milwaukee's next 12 points as the Panthers extended the lead to 12 points with just over a minute to play. During that same stretch, the Vikings missed five shots and turned the ball over six times.
"Edwards was very aggressive and really stepped up in the second half," Peterson Abiad said. "I thought the straw that broke our back is when we had good fronting down low and they kicked it out and hit a couple threes. Those were the shots they didn't hit in the first half."
CSU finished with 24 turnovers that the Panthers converted into 15 points. The Panthers also held a 37-35 advantage on the boards.
The Vikings did post a better shooting percentage than UWM, hitting 21-of-51 (.412), while the Panthers shot at a .367 clip (22-60). However, UWM hit 14-of-22 free throws, while the Vikings went to the line just seven times, hitting six.
"We have to keep this in perspective," Peterson Abiad said. "We went on the road and played two of the best teams in the conference. We go home now and we've got to continue to work. This transition we are making doesn't happen overnight and it's a battle all year."
CSU will return to action on Thursday (Jan. 17) night when the Vikings host Detroit at 5:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
