Jan. 19, 2008
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State scored a 64-58 victory over Horizon League rival Wright State in a home contest Saturday at the Wolstein Center. The Vikings have now won five straight home contests.
With the win, the Vikings improve to 10-7 (4-2 Horizon League) while the Raiders drop to 5-11 (2-3 HL).
"I am very proud of this team and how they are coming around," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "This was a very important win for us.We are going to enjoy the fact that we are beginning to take a major step as a program.
"I thought Wright State would come out with a lot of intensity on defense and they did. But I thought we had a lot of unforced turnovers because we were trying to make the million dollar pass."
Despite the fact that Wright State shot relatively well from the field (47.7%), CSU was still able to outscore the Raiders, largely by capitalizing on turnovers and a team shooting percentage of 54.8. The team outscored WSU in the points off turnovers category by a 35-20 margin in the game.
"We have been shooting the ball very well this season and that has been one of the biggest surprises for me," Peterson Abiad said. "We only shot 37 percent last season and to be around 42 percent this season speaks volumes about how much the team has been working on shooting the ball."
Getting to the free throw line often also played a factor, as the Vikings were able to convert 17-for-21 attempts from the charity stripe on the evening compared to Wright State's 6-for-8 night from the free throw line.
The first half began in a back and forth affair for the first three minutes of the game, but once the Vikings took the lead at the 16:41 mark following a layup by Robyn Hoying, the team never looked back despite a hard played game by Wright State.
Indeed, despite the fact that the lead change at 16:41 would prove to be the final lead change of the game, the Raiders hung around throughout the first half. The oppsing team closed to within two points on a jumper by Charne Dixon with 55 seconds left in the period, and with the score at 32-30 CSU at the half, it was clear that the Vikings would have to fight hard in the second half to put away the Raiders.
Leading the Vikings in the first half were Kailey Klein and Dominique Butler, who combined to score 20 of the team's 32 first half points. As a team CSU went 6-for-7 from the free throw line in the first half while Wright State was unable to get to the line at all.
Cleveland State came out of the locker room looking determined to put the Raiders away, and did so by pounding the ball inside as they had done in the first half. This strategy made itself apparent in the number of times the Vikings went to the free throw line in the second half, where they converted 11-of-14 second half attempts.
The stars of the second half for the Vikings were Butler as well as Angel Roque. Roque scored eight of her 11 points (2-for-3 FG, 5-for-6 FT) in the second half, while Butler scored 10 in the second half to give her 20 (9-for-12 FG, 2-for-2 FT) for the game. Butler added eight rebounds and four steals for good measure, while Brittany Korth led the team with five assists in the game.
The Raiders were led in their losing effort by Whitney Lewis, who scored 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from three and 5-for-5 from the line.
The Vikings return to action on Saturday, Jan. 26 against Youngstown State at the Wolstein Center. Game action is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. EST.
