Dec. 19, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
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ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio hit its first eight three-pointers, racing out to a big halftime lead and then held off a furious second half rally by Cleveland State to earn a 76-66 win over the Vikings on Friday evening at the Convocation Center.
The Vikings, who lost their third straight, fell to 4-6, while Ohio, which was playing its first home contest of the season, improved to 4-5.
Ohio raced out to a quick 19-4 lead less than eight minutes into the contest, thanks to the shooting of Jenny Poff, who hit her first five three-pointers.
An Angel Roque three-pointer and Kailey Klein layup brought CSU back within 10 points at 19-9, but a 15-0 Ohio run extended the Bobcat lead to 34-9 with 4:45 to play. Poff and Jennifer Bushby each hit a three-pointer during the run.
The Bobcats wound up 8-of-10 (.800) from three-point in the first 20 minutes and hit 15-of-24 (.625) from the field in the opening stanza.
"I hope we are able to learn something from this game," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We cannot keep starting out slow and expect to win games. We did it against American, Kent State and Ohio State and each time we were able to rally, but not win. We have to play with a sense of urgency right from the start."
Ohio led at the half, 45-19, and then came out and scored the first five points of the second half to assume a 50-19 lead with 18:58 to play.
CSU employed a full court press that began to fluster the Bobcats as the Vikings began to slowly chip away at their deficit and cut the lead to as little as 10, but Ohio had an answer each time and hit free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
The Vikings had four players in double digits, led by Shawnita Garland's career-high 18 points. She also added seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Dominique Butler had 14 points, eight boards and four steals, while Kailey Klein had 13 points and Angel Roque 11 points and a career-high seven rebounds.
Ohio was led by a 19 point, six rebound effort from Lauren Hmiel, while Poff finished with 16 points.
CSU did win the battle of the boards, 39-33, while forcing 24 Bobcat turnovers, including 13 in the second half.
CSU will be back in action on Sunday, Dec. 21, when the Vikings host Niagara at 3:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
