Dec. 21, 2010

Final Stats

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Contact: Greg Murphy

ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio used a 24-6 run centered around halftime and sent Cleveland State to its third straight loss, knocking off the Vikings, 57-45, on Tuesday afternoon at the Convocation Center.

The loss drops the Vikings to 6-4, while OU improves to 4-8.

CSU struggled from the field all afternoon, shooting a season-low .315 (17-54) for the game, including just 2-of-12 (.167) from three-point.

The Vikings were also forced to play the final 15 minutes of the game without starting center Destinee Blue who was ejected after being called for a questionable flagrant foul for hitting an OU player with an elbow while clearing space to make an outlet pass.

"We got a lot of good looks, but couldn't hit them today," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We missed a lot of layups and you are not going to win games when you do that. Destinee gives us another option down low so we when she went out, I thought we struggled a bit to adjust and it was a big blow for us.

"We need to find a way to recover from these last three games and get back on track. There are some good things out there that we can take, but we need to get more consistent and come to play with a high level of intensity and passion for all 40 minutes."

Janelle Adams was the only CSU player to reach double figures, scoring 10 points. Shalonda Winton added nine points and nine rebounds, while Shawnita Garland finished with nine points and six steals.

The Vikings blocked a season high eight shots.

The Vikings took an 8-1 lead to open the contest and held the Bobcats to just three free throws over the first five minutes of the game. OU didn't hit its first field goal until an Alesia Howard jumper in the paint with 14:15 to go in the half that sliced the CSU lead to 8-5.

From there, the Bobcats took over, using a 10-2 run over the next six minutes to assume a 15-10 lead with 8:41 left in the half.

This time, it was the Vikings who went cold from the field, missing eight straight field goals with two turnovers during six minute stretch. Destinee Blue stopped the scoreless stretch with a layup at the 8:41 mark to slice the OU lead to 15-10.

Blue's layup also began a 13-4 CSU run that allowed the Vikings to regain the lead (21-19) when Keane nailed a three-pointer with five minutes to play.

Sophomore Kaila Montgomery helped spark the run with good minutes off the bench, contributing

However, those were the final points of the first half for the Vikings. In the meantime, OU used a 10-0 run to close the half - capped by a Symone Lyles three pointer at the buzzer - to take a 29-21 lead into the locker room.

OU continued the run out of the locker room, scoring 15 of the first 19 points in the second half to take its biggest lead of the game (44-25) with just over 13 minutes to play.

CSU could not cut the deficit under 10 points the rest of the afternoon.

Ohio wasn't much better than CSU from the field, shooting .333 (19-57), but the Bobcats did hit six three pointers and held a 46-31 advantage on the boards and a 26-8 lead in bench scoring.

The Vikings are out of action until Tuesday (Dec. 28) when CSU hosts Lake Erie at 7:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.