Jan. 29, 2009

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Shawnita Garland scored a career-high 23 points and the Vikings totaled a season-high in points in an 87-52 victory over Loyola in Horizon League action in the Wolstein Center on Thursday night.

After missing her first two shots of the game, Garland went on to finish 10-of-13 from the field, including 1-of-1 from three-point and 2-of-2 from the line. She also had three rebounds, two assists and two steals, extending her streak of games with consecutive steals to 12.

"Shawnita is probably the most improved player on our team from last season," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "Her teammates are finding ways to get her the ball and she is getting herself into good scoring positions.

CSU improved to 11-9 overall and 5-3 in the Horizon League, while the Ramblers slipped to 5-13 overall (0-8 HL).

"I was really pleased with our offense tonight," Peterson Abiad said. "I thought it came pretty easy to us tonight and we didn't have to create a lot. We made good, solid cuts and we found open players. To have 46 points in the paint and rarely use a post up game is pretty good.

"We also took great care of the basketball and capitalized on their turnovers."

CSU turned the ball over a season-low 10 times, forcing 23 Loyola turnovers which they turned into 28 points. The Vikings also had a 46-16 advantage in points in the paint and a 35-30 advantage on the boards.

CSU shot .532 (33-62) from the floor, marking the fifth time that the Vikings shot better than 50 percent from the field. Loyola was also the seventh league team out of eight to be held under 55 points by the Vikings this season.

"We have been playing great defense over the last few weeks," Peterson Abiad said. "I thought we gave up a couple things to easy tonight, but overall, I was pleased with the defensive effort."

The Vikings wasted very little time getting started as Kailey Klein hit a pair of free throws to open the scoring and followed that up with a three-point play to give the Vikings a quick 5-0 lead just 42 seconds into the game.

Loyola did cut its deficit to 9-7 at the 17:27 mark, but that was as close as they would get as an 18-5 Viking run pushed their advantage to 27-12 on a Stephaine Crosley three-pointer midway through the half.

The Vikings pushed their lead to as many as 17 points (37-20; 5:37 left) before settling on a 16 point halftime lead (43-27).

Butler paced the Vikings with 13 first half points, while Garland and Klein added nine apiece as CSU shot .533 (16-30) from the floor, including 3-of-5 (.600) from three-point. The Vikings also converted 13 Rambler turnovers into 18 points, while turning the ball over just five times in the first 20 minutes of action.

A Butler jumper to open the second half pushed the CSU lead to 18 points (45-27), but a quick 4-0 Loyola run brought the Ramblers back to within 14 points (45-31) with 17:37 left.

However, that was as close as they would get the rest of the way as a 28-5 run gave CSU a 73-36 lead with just under seven minutes to play to put the game away.

Klein finished with a double-double of 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Dominique Butler had 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals.

All 11 CSU players scored at least two points.

Loyola was paced by 13 points from Elyse VanBogaert.

The Ramblers shot just .320 (16-50) from the floor.

The Vikings will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 31, when they host UIC at 5:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. It will be a doubleheader with the CSU men taking on Wright State at 7:30 p.m.

It will be another Family Value Saturday with dollar dogs and a Free KidZone before the game. There is also an Alley-Oop Online Special in which fans can download a form at www.CSUVikings.com and receive a free $12 ticket with the purchase of a $12 ticket. In addition, it will be Take a Kid to the Game Day and kids 12 and under will receive a free ticket with the purchase of an adult ticket.