Feb. 5, 2011
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Cleveland State had four players in double figures and Shalonda Winton notched her eighth double-double of the season, but Milwaukee used good free throw shooting down the stretch and defeated the Vikings, 73-64, in Horizon League action on Saturday in the Klotsche Center.
The Vikings fell to 12-10 this season and 5-6 in the Horizon League, while the Panthers improved to 9-13 overall and 6-5 in league play.
Winton scored 11 points with a game-high 13 rebounds for her ninth career double-double to lead the Vikings. Shawnita Garland scored 13 points with six rebounds and four steals, while Janelle Adams had 16 points and Honesty King 11 off the bench.
"I thought we came out with a lot of emotion and intensity and that allowed us to get out to a halftime lead," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "But all that went away in the second half and we lost our composure a little bit. We tried to call some timeouts to get that back, but we never did and that cost us in the end. This is a game I feel like we could have won and now we just have to put this behind us and move forward this week."
A Sami Tucker three pointer just eight seconds into the game gave UWM an early 3-0 lead. However, Adams sparked a 10-0 Viking run with eight points as CSU took a 10-3 lead on an Adams layup with 15:30 left in the half.
Adams went on to score 14 points in the first half, going 6-of-7 from the field.
UWM came back to within three points (12-9), but CSU had another answer, this time using a 7-0 spurt to extend its lead to 19-9 with 12:02 left in the half. Adams started the run with two free throws, while Garland scored on a breakaway layup after a steal and Winton nailed a three pointer to cap the run.
The CSU lead was still 10 points (34-24) after an Honesty King layup off an Ondrea Hughes steal and pass with 3:27 to play, but the Panthers closed the half on an 8-2 run to slice the CSU halftime lead to 36-32.
The Vikings continued their hot shooting from the floor from the previous two contests, hitting 14-of-27 (.519) in the opening stanza.
"When we execute our offense, we are able to get good looks at the basket and I thought we were able to do that in the first half," Peterson Abiad said.
Milwaukee scored the first eight points of the second half to take a 41-36 lead before a Keane free throw and a Winton bucket and free throw brought the Vikings back within one point (41-40) with just over 15 minutes left.
But the Panthers answered right back with an 8-2 run to take their largest lead of the game (49-42) on a pair of Lindsay Laur free throws with 10:10 to play.
That's when King took over for a quick stretch, knocking down back-to-back three pointers to bring the Vikings within one (49-48) with 9:20 to play.
From there, the score was tied five more times, the final time coming at 62-62 when Laur sank the first of two free throws. Her second one gave the Panthers the lead for good as UWM made 9-of-12 free throws in the final three minutes and just one field goal.
But it was a big make as Laur nailed a three pointer from the right wing with 1:37 left and the shot clock winding down to put the Panthers up five (69-64) after an Adams jumper pulled CSU back within two points.
The Vikings finished 25-of-67 (.373) from the field, while also making 14 steals. UWM held a 43-40 edge on the glass and finished 21-of-54 (.389) from the field.
The Panthers also made 25-of-30 (.833) at the free throw line.
The Vikings are back in action on Thursday (Feb. 10) when CSU hosts Valparaiso at 7:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The Vikings will also host Butler on Saturday (Feb. 12) at 4:00 p.m. in the WBCA Pink Zone Game. The Vikings will wear special pink uniforms for the games that will auctioned off during a silent auction during the game.
