March 8, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
CHICAGO, Ill. - Kailey Klein recorded her second career double-double with 25 points and a career-high 13 rebounds as Cleveland State claimed a 75-62 win over Loyola in the regular season finale on Saturday at the Joseph J. Gentile Center.
The win improves CSU to 16-13 overall, the most wins in school-history since the 1983-84 squad won 19. It is also tied for the third most wins in program history. In addition, CSU finishes the season at 10-8 in the Horizon League with the 10 wins being a school-record.
The win enables CSU to finish tied for fourth place in the league with Butler, but the Vikings earn the fourth-seed in the Horizon League Championship by winning the tiebreaker with the Bulldogs.
CSU will begin play in the Horizon League Championship on Wednesday, March 12, when the Vikings host fifth-seeded Butler at a time to be determined in the Wolstein Center.
"This is a great group and we felt that 10th win was coming, we just hit a little bump in the road," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "I am very proud of this team and their achievements this season, but we know there is more basketball to be played.
"We came out today and hit some shots and when you do that, it gives you a lot of energy. I thought we played with a lot of freedom today and were not trying to overthink things. We made a lot of key defensive stops and really kept our composure when our shots were not falling in the second half."
Robyn Hoying added 18 points, just two shy of her career-high, while Brittany Korth chipped in nine points and three assists. Jessica Roque finished with eight points.
Jessica Hylton tied Klein for game-high scoring honors with 25 points, while Brittany Boeke added 16 points and eight rebounds.
Things did not start out as well as the Vikings could have hoped for as both starting forwards, Dominique Butler and Robyn Hoying, picked up two quick fouls apiece less than four minutes into the game.
The Vikings, who were once again playing with just eight healthy players as both Natalie Miller and Stephaine Crosley missed the game with injuries, were forced to play a small line-up for a majority of the first half, often deploying five guards on the court.
The combination seemed to work as CSU used its quickness for a full court press to force 12 Loyola turnovers which were turned into 12 CSU points.
The Vikings used back-to-back three-pointers from Klein and Hoying to break a 4-4 tie and take an eight point (12-4) lead five minutes in. Loyola managed to cut its deficit to three (17-14) just two minutes later, but four consecutive CSU three-pointers, one apiece from Klein, Brittany Korth, Angel Roque and Jessica Roque, pushed the lead back to 10 points (26-16) with 11:08 to go in the half.
CSU extended the lead to 18 points (49-31) at the half as the Vikings shot 16-of-32 (.500) from the field, including 9-of-20 (.450) from three-point in the first half.
Klein led the way with 16 first half points, while Hoying scored 10 in just five minutes of action.
CSU maintained a double-digit lead until a pair of Keisha Collins free throws cut the Rambler deficit to 61-52 with 7:41 to play. The lead was still nine points with 2:55 to play before the Vikings iced the game as Korth hit a jumper and Klein converted an old fashioned three-point play for a 72-58 lead with 1:15 to go.
The Vikings hit 23-of-61 (.377) from the field, but nailed 11-of-26 (.423) from three-point. CSU, the best free throw shooting team in the league, also hit 18-of-19 (.947) at the line.
Loyola shot well from the field, hitting .468 (22-47), including 7-of-15 (.467) from three-point, but was hurt by 18 turnovers.
CSU committed just nine miscues, including just three in the second half.
