Nov. 26, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State juniors Kailey Klein and Jessica Roque scored 19 points each to help the Vikings defeat Toldeo, 68-63, in nonconference action on Wednesday night in the Wolstein Center.
CSU improves to 3-2 this season, while the Rockets slipped to 2-3.
Shawnita Garland added 11 points, while Stephaine Crosley had seven points, including a key basket down the stretch, and five rebounds. Klein chipped in eight boards and four assists.
"It was nice to get this win at home against Toledo," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We didn't play particularly well, but we did manage to play well in spurts. We had a couple breakdowns that we will have to work at to get better.
"I am grateful that we can win a game like this even when we didn't play our best. But I feel that we need to compete at a higher level for all 40 minutes."
The Vikings got off to a hot start from the field, breaking a 9-9 tie with an 11-0 run to take a 21-9 lead with 11:45 to play in the half.
Butler scored CSU's first six points, while Roque added three three-pointers during the run.
"We got off to a great start from the field, but it kind of gave us a false sense of security because we were not breaking them down or really working the ball," Peterson Abiad said. "We cooled off during the second part of the first half and didn't really execute on the offensive end."
"I felt we did a much better job executing in the second half with our passes and cuts to the basket."
After falling behind 21-9, the Rockets managed to climb all the way back and trailed just 33-27 at the break.
A layup by Tanika Mays and a free throw by Naama Shafir cut the Toledo deficit to three points (33-30) one minute into the second half and the Rockets were still hanging around (42-39) with 13:04 to play.
However, everytime Toledo made a run, CSU had an answer. The Vikings went on an 8-2 run of the own to reclaim a nine point lead (50-41) on a Janelle Adams layup with 10:25 to play.
The Rockets battled all the way back to cut the CSU lead to one (60-59) with 3:02 to play and following a Viking missed three-pointer, the Rockets took their first lead since early in the first half on a Shafir layup with 2:29 to play.
But Garland answered with a layup of her own and following Mays' missed free throw, Crosley converted a layup with 1:20 left to push CSU's lead back to three (64-61) with 1:20 to play.
Toledo missed a three-pointer on the next possession and Garland split a pair of free throws to make it a four point Viking lead.
Mays made a layup with 37 seconds left to pull Toledo back within one and after Klein split two free throws, the Rockets had a chance to cut the lead back to one point, but the Rockets missed a shot and couldn't convert after grabbing the offensive rebound and Klein followed with two free throws with five seconds left to ice the game.
"Toledo made a major run at us in the second half and I was proud of our team because we were able to stay composed, hit some key shots and make some defensive stops," Peterson Abiad said. "We will learn from this and become a better team because we were able to hold them off down the stretch."
Mays led the Rockets with 20 points and six rebounds, while Lisa Johnson had a game-high 11 rebounds as the Rockets held a 43-36 advantage on the glass.
CSU returns to action on Sunday (Nov. 30) when the Vikings travel to American for a 2:00 p.m. contest.
