Jan. 5, 2009
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
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VALPARAISO, Ind. - Cleveland State had four players in double figures and shot a season-best .581 (25-43) from the field, the second best in school history, to earn its first league win of the season, 68-55, over Valparaiso on Monday night in the Athletics Recreation Center.
The Vikings hit 25-of-43 from the floor, including 8-of-15 (.533) from three-point.
CSU improved to 7-7 overall and evened its league mark at 1-1, while the Crusaders slipped to 6-6 and 1-1.
"This is one of the toughest road swings for any Horizon League team and to come away with a split is a good accomplishment," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "Valpo is a very good team with a lot of offensive weapons and to hold them to 55 points and 27-percent shooting is a testament to our defensive effort."
Jessica Roque paced the Vikings with 17 points, while Shawnita Galand added 15. Dominique Butler contributed 12 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double and Stephaine Crosley had 12 points, nine boards and four blocks.
CSU blocked a season-high nine shots, tied for the fifth most in school history.
"I was most proud of our defensive effort tonight," Peterson Abiad said. "I thought this entire weekend showed what we are capable of doing on that end of the court in holding two very good teams to 55 points each."
The Vikings put together their best first half performance of the season, hitting 15-of-23 (.652) from the floor, including 6-of-9 (.667) from three point and all 10 if their free throws to claim a 46-29 advantage at the half.
Valpo started the game in a box-and-one on Kailey Klein, the Horizon League's leading scorer at 19.8 points per game, giving other CSU players open opportunities and each one responded throughout the half.
"I thought they might play a little box and one because they had played it in a game earlier this season," Peterson Abiad said. "We just ran our offense and were able to get some easy baskets underneath and Dom got some open baseline jumpers. And Jess hit some big three's for us."
With the score tied at 13-13, CSU scored the next eight points to assume a 22-13 lead. After three straight points from Valpo, CSU went on a 16-5 run over the next three minutes to take a 38-20 advantage with 3:28 left. Roque aided the run with a pair of three-pointers, while Janelle Adams also had one.
Roque went for 14 first half points, including three three-pointers, while Butler had eight. Klein scored seven.
A quick 6-0 run by the Crusaders to start the second half sliced their deficit to 46-35, but Garland responded with a three-pointer, Butler followed with a baseline jumper and Garland scored a layup to push the lead back to 18 points.
The Crusaders began to show signs of life, going on a 13-5 run over an eight minute stretch to slice their deficit to 10 points (58-48) with 7:52 to play, but they would get no closer the rest of the way as the Viking defense held tough down the stretch.
In addition to their offensive output, the Vikings put together one of their best defensive efforts of the season, holding the Crusaders to a .270 (17-63) effort from the floor.
In addition, CSU outrebounded the Crusaders, 37-33, but Valpo did hold a 19-4 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Vikings will return to action on Thursday, Jan. 8, when CSU opens its Horizon League home schedule with a 5:00 p.m. contest against Green Bay in the Wolstein Center. It will be the first of five doubleheaders this season with the CSU men playing Loyola at 7:30 p.m.
