Nov. 27, 2009
Contact: Greg Murphy
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CANCUN, Mexico - Jessica Roque hit a career-high seven three-pointers and scored 23 points to lead Cleveland State to a 64-58 victory over Iona in the final day of the Caribbean Challenge at the Moon Palace Resort on Friday afternoon. Roque, who came up two points shy of her career high scoring total, hit 7-of-8 from behind the arc, including six consecutive in the second half. "Jess was feeling it today and we needed every one of those shots," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. The Vikings improved to 2-3 overall and snapped a three-game losing streak, while Iona lost for the third straight time and fell to 2-4. "This was a huge win for us against a very good team," Peterson Abiad said. "We were a little short handed, but a lot of different players stepped up to make plays and hopefully we will be able to build on this performance going forward." One of the players who made a big contribution was sophomore Destinee Blue who totaled career highs in points (11) and rebounds (9) in 23 minutes.
CSU needed every bit of it as the Vikings were without senior Stephaine Crosley who sat out the game after injuring her right ankle against Marquette on Thursday. Shawnita Garland added eight points, seven rebounds and six assists and Kailey Klein scored nine for the Vikings. CSU raced out to a 19-8 lead with 8:27 to play in the contest, but a 19-8 run by the Gaels to close the half tied the contest at 27-27 at the half. An Anna McLean layup and a three-pointer by Kristina Ford opened the second half scoring for Iona and gave the Gaels a five-point lead (32-27). The lead would grow to as many as six points (44-38) with 8:40 left, but Blue made a layup and a free throw and Roque nailed a three-pointer to even the contest at 44-44 with seven minutes to play. The game would be tied three more times, but back-to-back three-pointers from Roque gave the Vikings a 55-49 lead with 2:37 to play. After a Ford free throw cut the lead back to five points, Roque came down and hit her seventh and final three-pointer of the afternoon, pushing the lead back to eight (58-50) with 1:57 to play. The Gaels had one final run left, cutting the deficit back to three points (61-58) with 35 seconds left, but an Iona turnover forced them to foul and Angel Roque hit three of four free throws down the stretch to ice the game. Despite giving up several inches in height inside, the Vikings still managed to outrebound Iona, 38-34, including 17 on the offensive end. CSU hit 21-of-31 (.677) from the line compared to just 9-of-13 (.692) for Iona. The Gaels also connected on just 5-of-28 (.179) from three-point. CSU will return to action on Wednesday (Dec. 2) when the Vikings host Marshall at 7:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. |
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