Feb. 26, 2009
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
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CHICAGO, Ill. - Cleveland State set a school-record with its 11th Horizon League victory, as Shawnita Garland scored 22 points and Stephaine Crosley grabbed a career-best 16 rebounds to lead the Vikings to an 83-73 victory over UIC on Thursday night in the Flames Athletic Center.
"We had a lot of great performances tonight, but Stephaine Crosley really stood out with her performance on the boards," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "She got offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds and worked so hard on the glass. I have never seen anyone get 16 rebounds in just 30 minutes of action."
Crosley's 16 rebounds marked the 21st time that a CSU player grabbed 16 boards, tied for 20th in a single game. The last player to notch that total was Nikki Thomas, who had 16 against Niagara on Nov. 12, 2006.
The Vikings lost the rebounding battle by a slim 32-31 margin, with Crosley accounting for more than half of CSU's boards.
The win improved the Vikings to 17-10 overall, the third most win in school history. CSU maintained its hold on third place in the league (11-4), one game behind second place Butler (12-3), which knocked off Milwaukee in overtime earlier on Thursday.
The win also ensures the Vikings will host a Horizon League quarterfinal game on March 11 in the Wolstein Center as CSU can finish no worse than fourth place in the standings.
"That is something that this team has been striving for since the preseason," Peterson Abiad said. "I am so happy with the way we are playing right now and it reminds me of the role we got on at the end of last season."
CSU has won a season-high four straight games and 10 of its last 12 overall.
Garland hit on 9-of-13 from the floor, including a career-high four three-pointers en route to her 22 points, one off her career-high. She added four rebounds, four assists and five steals.
Jessica Roque added 18 points, while Kailey Klein finished with 12 points and a career-high seven assists. The Vikings made a season-high 26 assists on their 32 field goals with the 26 helpers a Horizon League high for this season.
"The girls know where everyone is going to be on the floor and I thought that was really evident tonight with the way we moved the ball," Peterson Abiad said.
CSU also shot a season-best .582 (32-55) from the field, which ranks as the second best effort in program history.
The first half belonged to Garland and Roque as the duo combined to score 27 points, going 11-of-14 from the field, including 5-of-6 from three-point. Their efforts helped CSU take a 45-33 lead into the locker room as the Vikings shot a blistering .655 (19-29) from the field, hitting 6-of-10 (.600) from three-point.
Five quick points by CSU gave the Vikings a 5-0 lead two minutes in, but the Flames responded with a 6-0 run to gain their first lead of the contest.
But the Vikings came right back, scoring 11 consecutive points to assume a 16-6 advantage with 12:59 left on a Roque three-pointer. The lead was extended to as many as 14 points before CSU settled on a 12-point halftime lead.
UIC was able to cut its deficit to eight points (54-46) with 15:46 to play, but an 8-0 CSU spurt pushed the lead back to 16 (62-46) with 12:36 left on a Dominique Butler jumper.
The Flames would not threaten the rest of the way as CSU continued its hot shooting from the field.
The Vikings wound up hitting 10-of-16 from three-point, the third highest percentage in school-history (.625)
UIC shot .419 (26-62) from the floor and was led by Jessie Miller's 21 points.
The Vikings will conclude their regular season road schedule when CSU travels to Loyola for a 2:00 p.m. CST contest on Saturday, Feb. 28, afternoon.
