Feb. 11, 2010

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

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VALPARAISO, Ind. - Cleveland State has sure taken a liking to the Athletics & Recreation Center on the campus of Valparaiso over the last three seasons.

The Vikings shot a season-high 54-percent from the field, and used a near flawless second half en route to an 82-59 victory over the Crusaders on Thursday night in Horizon League action. The win extended CSU's win streak at Valpo to three straight and each time, the Vikings shot better than 57-percent from the field.

CSU hit 29-of-54 from the field, including 5-for-15 from three-point.

Last year, CSU shot .581 from the floor, the third best percentage in school history and two seasons ago, the Vikings shot .571 en route to 86 points.

The 82 points were a season-high for the Vikings, bettering the old mark of 81 against Butler in early January.

CSU held a slim three-point lead at halftime, but outscored the Crusaders 44-24 over the final 20 minutes and turned the ball over just four times in the second half, all coming with less than four minutes to play when there was little doubt about the outcome.

The Vikings turned the ball over a season-low tying 13 times.

CSU improved to 12-11 with the win and 7-5 in the Horizon League, while the Crusaders fell to 6-16 overall (3-8 HL).

"I thought we came out and played with a lot of energy and intensity in the first half, but they matched us," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We continued that in the second half and really picked up our defensive pressure and were able to make a run and put the game away."

Kailey Klein paced the Vikings with 24 points, while Shawnita Garland scored 22 on 10-of-13 shooting from the field. Garland, the Horizon League leader in steals, added four more to her total tonight. Stephaine Crosley added eight points and nine rebounds, while Honesty King, playing for the first time in about three weeks, scored eight points with three rebounds off the bench.

All 11 players got into the contest and scored at least one point and grabbed at least one rebound. "Kailey and Shawnita both had great games scoring-wise, but I thought everyone that played contributed to this win," Peterson Abiad said. "It was nice to get some rest for our starters as they have been logging some big minutes lately and it was great to see our bench step up tonight.

"I thought Honesty King came in and gave us some really good minutes and gave me a lot of confidence in her play. She ran the point and kept us composed and was also solid on defense."

CSU used the play of Garland and Klein to a 38-35 halftime lead as the first 20 minutes were close throughout. CSU took the largest lead of the half (17-12) on a Janelle Adams layup, but could not extend the lead as both teams shot the ball well from the field.

Garland scored 13 points while playing just 14 minutes as she was forced to watch from the bench for the final six minutes, while Klein scored 11 in the first half. The Vikings hit 15-of-25 (.600) with the Crusaders shooting .481 (13-27) in the first stanza that featured six ties and six lead changes.

Garland scored the first two buckets of the second half and Crosley added a layup to extend CSU's lead to nine points (44-35) two minutes in. Valpo got it back to six points with 15 minutes to play, but Garland hit a three-pointer, Shalonda Winton added a layup off a Garland feed and Garland added another jumper to push the lead to 55-42 with 13:55 to play.

The lead swelled to as many as 26 points on a Kaila Montgomery free throw with 2:21 to play.

The Vikings held a 38-26 advantage on the boards, forcing 18 Crusader turnovers that CSU turned into 20 points.

Laruen Kenney and Ashley Varner led the Crusaders with 11 points apiece.

The Vikings are back in action on Saturday (Feb. 13) when CSU plays at Butler. Tipoff is slated for 2:00 p.m.