Jan. 28, 2010
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
FAIRBORN, Ohio - Wright State's LaShawna Thomas hit a running floater in the lane at the buzzer to give the Raiders a 60-58 victory over Cleveland State in Horizon League action in the Nutter Center on Thursday night.
Thomas' shot came mere seconds after CSU's Angel Roque nailed a three-pointer from the left wing with 11.8 seconds to play that tied the game at 58-58.
"Angel hit a big shot for us and that is the role that she is growing into," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "I thought we did a great job of executing the play out of the huddle and she stepped up and made the shot.
"But LaShawna came back on the other end and hit a really tough shot in the lane. I thought we did a great job of defending it, but she made a play. The game came down to the final 3.5 seconds and unfortunately for us, they were able to convert."
CSU fell to 10-9 overall and 5-3 in league play, while the Raiders improved to 6-12 overall and 2-6 in the league.
Shawnita Garland led the Vikings with 18 points, while Kailey Klein scored 13 and Stephaine Crosley and Shalonda Winton nine points apiece.
Klein's effort allowed her to move into second place on the all-time scoring list at CSU with 1,813 points. She is now 39 points shy of breaking the record.
WSU also held a 44-25 advantage on the glass, grabbing 21 on the offensive end and turning them into 18 second half points. CSU, which came in leading the league in offensive rebounding, grabbed just five.
"They killed us on the boards and that's what it came down to," Peterson Abiad said.
Just like years past, tonight's game turned into a grind-it-out, slow-down affair with both teams utilizing their pressure defense, not allowing any easy looks on the offensive end.
The Vikings led for a majority of the first half, taking their largest lead of five points (12-7) on a Shalonda Winton layup with 9:20 to play.
CSU took a 19-17 lead on two Kailey Klein free throws with 1:28 left in the stanza. However, Kanisha Davis drilled a three-pointer on the Raiders next possession and after a stop, Ta-myra Davis converted a short jumper in the lane to give WSU a 22-19 lead.
After a CSU miss, LaShawna Thomas just beat the buzzer with a tip-in, giving the Raiders a 24-19 lead at the half and capping a 6-0 Raider run over the final minute.
The Vikings used the play of Garland and Crosley out of the locker room to claw back into a 31-31 tie on a steal and breakaway layup by Garland with just under 15 minutes to play.
The duo of Crosley and Garland combined to score 11 of CSU's first 12 points to start the half.
However, the Raiders would use a 12-3 run over the next four plus minutes to take its largest lead of the game (43-34) on a Davis bucket.
But Garland would score back-to-back baskets to start a 9-0 CSU run, bringing the Vikings even with WSU (43-43) on a Garland free throw with 7:34 to play and would get their first lead since the first half when Klein knocked down a three-pointer with just under seven minutes to play (46-45).
Five ties followed until Thomas broke the final one at the buzzer, the final of her team high 15 points.
The Vikings will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 30) when CSU heads to Detroit for a 1:30 p.m. contest.
