Jan. 22, 2009
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
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DETROIT, Mich. - Cleveland State ran its win streak to three and improved to 10-8 overall and 4-2 in the Horizon League with a 70-55 victory over Detroit at Calihan Hall on Thursday night.
The 55 points by the Titans marked the fifth time (out of six games) that a league opponent was held to 55 points of fewer by CSU this season. The win was only CSU's third all-time at Detroit as the Vikings improved to 3-16 all-time in Calihan Hall, including wins in two of the last three seasons.
"This has always been a tough place to play for Cleveland State, but I was pleased with the execution of our gameplan tonight," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We are in an important stretch of our schedule. I felt that once we got past the first four league games, we would have an opportunity to string together a winning streak and assert ourselves as a championship level team.
"We are starting to firm up who we are and putting together an identity. We stuck to our defensive gameplan and when they started to make a run, we responded by hitting some shots and getting keys stops. That's the sign of a great team."
It was also CSU's third consecutive road win, following road triumphs at Valparaiso and Youngstown State, marking the first time since the 2001-02 season that CSU has won three straight contests on the road.
Kailey Klein led five Vikings in double figures with 20 points and six assists, while Shawnita Garland had 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Jessica Roque added 13 points, while Dominique Butler and Natalie Miller chipped in 10 points apiece. Miller's performance was even more impressive as she commuted to Detroit with her parents on Thursday afternoon after taking her clinicals back on campus earlier in the day.
"Nat has four years of experience in the program and gives us everything we need from a senior," Peterson Abiad said. "She has filled the same role for this team during her entire career and really gives us a spark on the defensive end when she comes in. Tonight, she looked for the ball on offense and her teammates found her. She was very assertive offensively."
The Vikings jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead three minutes into the game, using three-pointers from Kailey Klein and Shawnita Garland, as well as a Dominique Butler putback.
However, the Titans responded with seven straight points to take a 9-8 lead with 14:31 to play in the half. CSU came right back, taking a 17-13 lead with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half when Butler converted a baseline jumper.
A Chanica Hall three-pointer on the next possession sliced the Viking lead back to one point (17-16), but CSU closed the half on an 18-6 run, taking a 35-23 lead into the locker room. Klein hit a pair of three-pointers, while Butler contributed a pair of jumpers during the stretch.
The Titans opened the second half on a 9-3 run to slice the lead to four points (38-34) with 16 minutes to play. But Miller responded with a three-pointer and a layup and a Garland three-pointer gave CSU a nine-point advantage (5-36) with 12:12 to play.
Detroit wasn't done, cutting its deficit to seven points two more times, the last coming with 9:07 to play. But Garland made a layup and a three-pointer to push the lead back to 12 points (57-45) with 7:59 to play and the Titans could not get CSU's lead under double digits the rest of the way.
Detroit, which fell to 5-13 overall (1-5 HL) was led by Sandi Brown who had 17 points and eight rebounds.
The Vikings shot .446 (25-56) from the floor, hitting a season-high 11 three-pointers in 27 attempts (.407). CSU also held a 38-27 advantage on the boards and finished with 20 assists on their 25 buckets.
The Vikings conclude their three-game roadtrip on Saturday, Jan. 24, with a 4:30 p.m. contest at Wright State before returning home to host Loyola (Jan. 29) and UIC (Jan. 31) next weekend in the Wolstein Center. Both of those games will begin at 5:00 p.m.
