Jan. 2, 2011
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
CHICAGO, Ill. - Takima Keane scored a career-high 20 points and Shawnita Garland made a career-best five three pointers as Cleveland State earned a split in Chicago with a 76-58 victory over Loyola on Sunday afternoon in the Gentile Center.
The Vikings improved to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the Horizon League, while avenging a pair of losses to the Ramblers from a season ago. Loyola slipped to 7-6 overall (1-1 HL).
"I was very pleased with the effort we put forth today," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "I feel that this was one of our best all-around efforts and hopefully we can continue to build and grow from this. Offensively, we were able to hit some shots, get some open looks and make some nice passes to teammates. And defensively, we played with a high level of intensity and limited the number of good looks they had. I thought we came out and executed the plan we put together."
Keane, whose previous career high was 14 points, hit 8-of-14 from the floor and added a career-high tying five assists.
Garland finished with 19 points, knocking down 5-of-7 three's and adding eight rebounds and five assists. Shalonda Winton recorded her team-leading fifth double double of the year with 12 points and 10 rebounds and Destinee Blue notched her fourth with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Honesty King contributed nine points and four rebounds off the bench.
The Vikings pounded Loyola on the glass, 48-28, and also assisted on 18 of their 26 buckets. The plus-20 rebound margin was a season-high.
CSU hit a season-high .476 (10-21) from three point with the 10 makes representing a season-high.
A Winton layup opened the scoring to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead less than a minute in, but it was all Loyola from there as the Ramblers used a pair of three pointers as part of a 10-0 run to assume a 10-2 lead with 17 minutes to go in the half.
"They hit some shots to begin with and got out to the lead, but we never lost our composure," Peterson Abiad said. "The last few games, we have got behind early and had to play catch up and it was nice to see us weather that early storm, take the lead and keep building on it. We were very efficient on both ends of the court today."
The Vikings began to pick up their play on the offensive end, using a Garland three pointer to spark a 13-4 run that put CSU back ahead (15-14) on a jumper by Destinee Blue with 13:28 left. Brittany Boeke answered with a three pointer on the other end for Loyola and a jumper by Abby Skube allowed the lead to grow back to four points (19-15) with 11:14 to play.
But the Vikings used another run, this time a 13-2 spurt, to regain a seven point advantage (28-21) with 6:24 to play in the half as six different players scored during the stretch, including five points from Honesty King who hit a three pointer from the corner to cap the run.
CSU went on to score 10 of the final 12 points of the half to take a 40-27 lead into the locker room.
Boeke single handedly kept the Ramblers around, scoring 13 of her teams 27 points, while the Vikings had a balanced scoring attack as six different players scored, including five players with six points or more.
CSU opened the second half by scoring the first six points and 12 of the first 14 as the lead swelled to 23 points (52-29) on a put buck basket by Blue.
Garland and Keane both hit three pointers to start the half as the Vikings connected on their first five shots of the half.
The Ramblers would not threaten the rest of the afternoon as the Vikings continued to hit shots from the outside and find open cutters to the basket for easy layups.
The Vikings hit 13-of-28 (.464) from the floor in the second half.
CSU also shot a season-best .933 (14-15) at the free throw line, tied for the fourth best in school history.
"We have been putting an emphasis on making our free throws and that translated to today," Peterson Abiad said.
The Vikings will be back in action on Thursday (Jan. 6) when CSU hosts Milwaukee in the Horizon League home opener for the Vikings. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.
