Cleveland State University

In this Celebrate. Recognize. Inspire. series relive the first league tournament championships among our women's programs,
and get to know more about a featured student-athlete from those respective title teams.

On March 16, 2008 Cleveland State won its first-ever Horizon League Women’s Basketball Tournament title, marking the second of four tournament titles for Cleveland State during the 2007-08 academic year, helping CSU capture the Horizon League’s McCafferty Trophy and putting Cleveland State Women’s Basketball on the national stage.  

After finishing regular season play with a modest 16-13 record and a 10-8 league mark, the fourth-seeded Vikings rolled through Horizon League Tournament play, picking up double-digit wins in all three #HLWBB tournament games. 

Cleveland State opened tournament play with a 79-68 victory over No. 5 Butler in the Quarterfinals, before picking up an unprecedented 90-66 win at top-seeded Green Bay in the Semifinals. The Vikings’ win against the Phoenix marked the first win over Green Bay in six seasons, and marked the first win for Cleveland State at Green Bay since the 1996-97 campaign. 

After earning a spot in the championship game for the first time under the Horizon League name, the Vikings posted a 70-56 win over third-seeded Wright State, capturing their first-ever #HLWBB tournament title and earning the team’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

Cleveland State’s title-winning performance against Wright State marked the team’s 19^th win of the season, marking the second most wins in a season for the Vikings at the time, while it also made women’s basketball the third women’s team at Cleveland State to capture a tournament title during the MCC/HL era. 

During the 2007-08 tournament run, the Vikings were led by All-League honorees Kailey Klein and Dominique Butler, with Butler also being named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. In addition, Klein, Butler and Britt Korth were named to the 2007-08 All-Tournament Team, including an MVP honor for Klein. 

Cleveland State then traveled to second-seeded Stanford in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, becoming the eighth team to represent the Horizon League in the National Tournament.

The 2007-08 championship would be the first of two Horizon League tournament titles for the Vikings over a three-year span (2009-10), making Cleveland State one of just four league teams with two women's basketball titles within a three-year time frame. 

As a senior on the 2007-08 team, Britt Korth was part of a Cleveland State team that would make a place for itself in the CSU Record Book, capturing the program’s first-ever Horizon League Tournament title. 

A four-year starter and All-League honoree, Korth was former Cleveland State head coach Kate Peterson Abiad’s first-ever recruit at CSU, and was an instrumental part in turning the Vikings into a Horizon League Championship contender. During their first three years as Vikings, Korth and classmate Robyn Hoying combined to win just 16 games, but as seniors this duo led Cleveland State to 19 wins and the program’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.  

Korth graduated as the CSU record holder with 120 career games played, while she ranked in the top-five in three-point field goal percentage, games started and assists. To date, Korth still ranks in the top-10 in three of the four categories. 

During the 2007-08 #HLWBB Championship campaign, Korth posted a team-high 128 assists, helping the Vikings notch 497 total helpers, the second highest single-season total in program history. During Horizon League Tournament play, Korth averaged 11.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists throughout the three games, and notched the first double-double of her career with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the semifinal victory over Green Bay. 

After leading the Vikings to the 2008 Horizon League Tournament title, Korth continued her educational career as a graduate assistant with the Vikings, and was on the sidelines when Cleveland State captured its second #HLWBB Tournament title during the 2009-10 campaign. 

Korth later returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach in 2011, spending four seasons on the sidelines, helping the Vikings return to the postseason during 2014-15 when Cleveland State earned its first appearance in the WNIT.

Being a student-athlete at Cleveland State allowed me to figure out life on my own away from my parents, while building long-lasting relationships with my teammates, coaches and peers. I was able to learn how to be a leader on and off the court – which still helps me in my career today – while also learning how to overcome adversity as a group with a strong work ethic that ultimately led to us winning the 2008 championship.