March 1, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Butler's Susan Lester and Lade Akande combined for 51 points and 26 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to a 77-55 victory over Cleveland State in Horizon League action on Saturday afternoon in the Wolstein Center.
The duo combined to hit 20-of-30 field goals, including a 5-for-8 effort from three-point by Lester. Akande also added three steals and two blocked shots.
Brittany Korth, playing the final regular season home game of her career, finished with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists to lead CSU. Kailey Klein totaled 14 points and four rebounds, while Jessica Roque added a season-high 11 points off the bench.
The Vikings fall to 15-12 overall and 9-7 in the Horizon League, while Butler improves to 19-9 overall and 9-8 in league play. CSU is two games behind second place Wright State (11-5), which defeated UIC earlier today, and tied for third place with Milwaukee, a loser at Green Bay today.
Butler is in fifth place, one-half game behind CSU and Milwaukee in the standings.
"We're disappointed as players and coaches about today's performance," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "I thought our defensive effort was terrible. They had two key players and we couldn't stop either one of them. We didn't force them to make any adjustments and gave up way to many offensive rebounds.
"I thought in the beginning of the game, we missed a lot of open layups and never rebounded from it. We were just out of sync offensively and defensively and couldn't get out of it. We have to right the ship heading into the final week of the regular season."
Butler used the outside shooting of Lester and inside play of Akande to race out to a 19-5 lead eight minutes into the game as the duo combined for 17 of Butler's first 19 points. Lester had 11 of the points, including three three-pointers.
However, the Vikings slowly crept back into the game, cutting their deficit to just seven points (23-16) on a three-pointer by Brittany Korth.
A three-pointer by Tara Miller and two free throws from Candyce Brown pushed the Bulldog lead back to 12 points (28-16), but CSU once again responded with a run of their own to cut the Butler halftime lead to seven points (32-25).
Lester (13) and Akande (10) combined for 23 of Butler's 32 first half points
A jumper by Dominique Butler cut the Bulldog lead to five (32-27), the closest CSU was since Butler lead 7-3 three minutes into the game. However, the Bulldogs hit four straight three-pointers, two each by Candace Jones and Lester to extend the lead back to 10 points (41-31) four minutes into the second half.
CSU made one final run, cutting the lead back to six points (46-40) on a Korth three-pointer with 13:14 left, but six straight points by the Bulldogs pushed the lead back to 12 (52-40) and the Vikings never got it under double digits from there.
The lead was still 10 points (64-54) after another Korth three-pointer with 4:09 to play, but Butler finished the game on an 11-1 run to claim the win.
Butler concluded the game with a decisive 32-20 advantage in points in the paint, a 14-6 lead in second chance points and a 36-25 rebounding edge. The Bulldogs hit 28-of-52 (.538) from the field, including 10-of-21 (.476) from three-point.
CSU was limited to 18-of-52 (.346) from the floor, but did hit 6-of-15 (.400) from three point, including a 4-for-6 effort from Korth.
Senior Robyn Hoying was also playing her final regular season home game and finished with two points and one rebound.
The Vikings will conclude the regular season with a pair of games in Chicago, Ill., next weekend beginning with a 7:00 p.m. CST contest at UIC on Thursday, March 8.
