Feb. 2, 2008

Final Stats

Contact: Greg Murphy

VALPARAISO, Ind. - Horizon League Player of the Year candidate Kailey Klein tied her career-high with 33 points and Cleveland State won its fifth straight game, 86-63, at Valparaiso on Saturday afternoon in the Athletics Recreation Center.

CSU shot .571 (32-56) from the field, the second best shooting performance in school history. It is topped only a .627 (32-51) shooting performance at Niagara on Jan. 21, 1980.

The 86 points are a season-high and the most since CSU tallied 88 against Youngstown State on Dec. 30, 2003. It is also the second time this season that the Vikings have won five straight games, the first time in program history that CSU has recorded two separate five game win streaks.

Klein, the reigning Horizon League Player of the Week, hit 12-of-16 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point. She was also a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line, as the Vikings hit all 14 of their free throw attempts, marking the second best effort from the line in a game at CSU. It trails a 15-for-15 effort at Milwaukee on Feb. 4, 1995.

The Vikings improved to 13-7 overall, the most wins in a season since the 2000-01 squad won 14. CSU also moved to 7-2 in league play and is all alone in second place after first place Green Bay (8-1) knocked off third place Milwaukee (6-3) this afternoon.

Valpo fell to 9-11 overall and 4-5 in league play.

"I was worried coming into the game because we were coming off a very emotional win on Thursday at Butler," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "And I knew Valparaiso was a good team and wanted to rebound after a tough loss on Thursday.

"But we came out and played well on both offense and defense and really got into a good rhythm. They had a hard time defending us and we were able to get some baskets down low in the post and with our cuts."

Dominique Butler was the only other Viking to finish in double figures as she scored 12 points. Angel Roque and Shawnita Garland chipped in nine points apiece, while Brittany Korth finished with nine points, six rebounds and a career-high seven assists.

CSU turned the ball over a season-low 11 times and outrebounded the Crusaders, 36-25.

The Vikings were near flawless in the first 20 minutes of action on both offense and defense, racing out to a 48-24 lead at the half.

After the Crusaders scored the first basket of the contest, CSU went on a 13-2 run to claim an 11-point lead. Valpo trimmed its deficit to three points (13-10) with 13:20 to play in the first half, but CSU used an 18-4 run over the next eight minutes to gain a 17 point advantage (31-14) and the Crusaders did not threaten from there.

CSU shot 17-of-29 (.586) from the field, including a 5-for-11 (.455) effort from three-point in the first half, while limiting the Crusaders to a dismal .290 (9-31) effort from the floor. The stifling CSU defense forced Valpo into a 4-for-20 (.200) shooting performance from three-point in the first half.

It was much of the same for CSU in the second half, as the Vikings connected on 15-of-27 (.556) from the field and hit 3-of-6 (.500) from three-point as CSU pushed the lead to as many as 34 points on two occasions in the second half.

CSU dominated down low, holding a 36-18 advantage in points in the paint.

The Vikings will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 7, when they host Milwaukee at 5:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.