Feb. 23, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Kailey Klein and Dominique Butler combined to score 49 points and the Vikings used a 20-5 run centered around halftime to turn a three-point game into a rout as CSU claimed an 82-66 win at Youngstown State.
Cleveland State improves to 15-10 overall and 9-5 in Horizon League play while YSU drops to 12-13 overall and 7-7 in league play. The Vikings remain in third place in the standings with Wright State with four games to go. More importantly, CSU is two games ahead of the fifth-place Penguins, almost assuring the Vikings a quarter-final home game in the upcoming league tournament.
"We had a week off to recover from last week's roadtrip and I am pleased with how we responded," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We were aggressive on the offensive end and were really focused on defense.
"There was a lot of pressure and the stakes were high for this game. The team really stepped up and responded in a great way."
The win assured the Vikings of their first winning season since 2000-01 while the ninth league victory tied the school record for league wins in a season, which was originally set in 2003-04.
The inside-outside combination of Butler and Klein proved to be almost unstoppable as Butler connected on nine of her 11 field goal attempts and all seven free throws to score a career-high 25 points. She added eight rebounds and four steals.
Klein, who entered the game leading the Horizon League with a 19.0 scoring average, totaled 24 points in the contest, going seven-for-13 from the field, including a five-for-seven effort from three-point, and five-for-seven from the line with four assists. It was the 10th game of 20 points or more for the Horizon League Player of the year Candidate.
Brittany Korth added 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists for CSU.
"I thought Brit played an all-around great game," Peterson Abiad said. "She attacked the basket hard and finished with seven assists and no turnovers."
Velissa Vaughn was the lone Penguins to score in double figures, pouring in a game-high 28 points.
After struggling offensively in road losses at Wright State and Detroit last week, CSU was very efficient this afternoon. The Vikings shot .551 from the field (27-49) and .833 from the foul line (20-24), and took good care of the ball, committing just 12 turnovers.
The Viking defense was solid as usual, turning 17 YSU turnovers into 11 steals and 25 points.
The game appeared to be head for a nail-biter as CSU held just a 33-30 lead when YSU's Kelsey Gurganus scored in the lane with 3:40 left.
But the Vikings took over the contest, running off 14 of the next 17 points to take a 47-33 halftime lead and then adding six of the first eight points in the second half to take a commanding 53-35 lead with 18:16 left.
The Penguins would come no closer than 14 points the rest of the way as CSU pushed the led to 21 (67-46, 11:05) on a field goal by Butler.
Youngstown State started out quickly, opening up a 16-11 lead just six minutes into the contest.
But the Vikings got their offense on track, running off the next 12 points to take the lead for good, 23-16 with 10:45 left. Butler keyed the run by scoring eight of the points, six of which came at the foul line.
The Penguins would keep the deficit to single figures for most of the half, cutting the Viking lead to just 33-30 with 3:40 left on a Kelsey Gurganus field goal.
CSU would rattle off 14 of the next 17 points to take a 47-43 lead into the locker room and never look back.
The Vikings continue league play with home games against Valparaiso on Thursday (Feb. 28) and Butler on Saturday (March 1) before closing the regular season with a pair of games in Chicago the following weekend.
