March 11, 2011

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Shawnita Garland scored 20 points, her seventh straight game with at least 20 points, but second seeded Cleveland State fell in the Horizon League Championship semifinals, 68-54, to second seeded Butler on Friday night in the Kress Events Center.

Garland added nine rebounds and four steals, while Destinee Blue tallied her 10th double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Vikings who were making their fourth straight appearance in the league semifinals, joining Green Bay as the only two league teams to accomplish that feat.

The Vikings fell to 20-11 and had their eight game win streak snapped, tying for the second longest streak in school history. The Bulldogs improved to 20-12 and advance to the Horizon League Championship game on Sunday where Butler will play the winner of Friday's other semifinal between top-seeded Green Bay and fourth-seeded Wright State.

"You have to give Butler a lot of credit for the way they played tonight," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "They raced out to a quick lead, hit a lot of key shots to keep the momentum and really hustled to get second chance points tonight.

"We just didn't shoot the ball well," Peterson Abiad said. "We got a lot of good looks at the basket, but couldn't convert and that hurt us in the end. But I am so proud of the way this team battled and grew from day one. We came into the season not knowing what to expect from this group, but they worked hard to accomplish everything they did, reaching 20 wins for just the second time in school history."

The Bulldogs raced out to a 9-0 lead at the 17:32 mark before a Destinee Blue basket put the Vikings on the board with 16:05 to play in the half. Her basket started a 15-6 CSU run that drew the Vikings even at 15-15 midway through the first half as Garland hit a three pointer with 10:00 to play.

Garland and Adams combined for 13 of CSU's first 15 points.

However, Butler came right back, using a 9-2 run of their own to regain a seven point advantage (24-17) with 6:23 left. Garland answered with a three pointer, then had a steal and breakaway layup and finished a personal 7-0 run with a jumper from just inside the three point line to bring CSU back to even, 24-24, with 5:14 left in the half.

The Bulldogs would close the half on a 12-5 run, including a deep three pointer by Brittany Bowen with 13 seconds to play that sent Butler into the locker room with a 36-29 lead.

The Bulldogs opened the second half with five straight points to take a 41-26 lead, but CSU responded by scoring 10 of the next 13 points to pull within 44-39 with just over 13 minutes to play. However, Hamilton stopped the Viking run with a three point play on the other end which started a 12-4 Butler run that gave them a 56-43 lead with just over seven minutes to play.

CSU pulled within nine points once more at the 6:27 mark on a three pointer by Honesty King, but Hamilton answered with a three point play and Pittman nailed a jumper to push the Butler lead back to 14 points (62-48) with 5:13 left.

Hamilton and Alyssa Pittman led the Bulldogs with 22 points each, while Hamilton added 10 boards.

CSU held a 40-33 advantage on the glass, but Butler knocked down 16-of-17 free throws to just 6-of-9 for the Vikings.

Despite the loss, CSU will still advance to the postseason, taking part in the WBI Classic next week after signing a contract to participate if they didn't advance to the NCAA tournament. CSU will learn its first round opponent, date and location of the first game early next week.