Jan. 2, 2009

Contact: Greg Murphy

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SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State (6-6) begins defense of its Horizon League Championship when the Vikings open league play on Saturday (Jan. 3) with a 2:00 p.m. contest at Butler. CSU got back to .500 with a convincing 75-48 victory over Buffalo on Monday (Dec. 29) night, while Butler improved to 5-6 by defeating Christian Brothers, 83-40, on Monday. The Vikings won two of the three meetings with Butler last season, including a 79-68 win in the Horizon League quarterfinals.

PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: Coming off the most successful season in school history, sixth-year head coach Kate Peterson Abiad welcomes back three starters and eight letterwinners from last year's team that won the Horizon League Championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. The lineup is keyed by six players who made significant contributions to last year's squad, headlined by junior guard Kailey Klein (19.2 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 3.3 apg), a first team All-Horizon League pick last season. Klein is joined in the backcourt by junior twin sisters Angel (6.5 ppg, 3.3 apg) and Jessica Roque (9.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg), while sophomore Shawnita Garland (10.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.6 apg, 2.6 spg) serves as the top reserve off the bench. Senior Dominique Butler (11.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.3 spg) leads the frontcourt after earning Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year accolades last season, while junior Stephaine Crosley (4.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg) slides into the starting lineup. Senior Natalie Miller (1.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg) also figures into the rotation, while freshman guards Janelle Adams (2.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg) and Takima Keane (1.7 ppg, 0.5 rpg) and forward Destinee Blue (2.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg) have worked their way into the rotation during the nonconference portion of the season.

THE HEAD COACH: Kate Peterson Abiad is in her sixth year as the head coach of the Vikings and claims an overall record of 53-107 (.331) after leading the Vikings to 19 wins last season. The sixth head coach in school-history, Peterson Abiad spent six years as an assistant coach at Wisconsin, serving as the recruiting coordinator starting in 1998. She also worked at Eastern Illinois (1993-97) and Indiana (1991-93). A 1991 graduate of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Peterson Abiad earned Kodak All-America honors her senior season after setting the NCAA Division III record for three-point field goals per game at 3.85.

KLEIN 9TH ON SCORING LIST: With her 22 point effort against Buffalo on Monday, Dec. 29, junior Kailey Klein moved past Megan Williams (1993-97) and into ninth place on the CSU career scoring list with 1,202 points. Klein is just 26 points shy of passing Sue Hlavacek (1974-76; 77-79) for eighth place on the career scoring chart and needs to score 28 points to take over seventh place from Mary Petrecca who had 1,229 points from 1982-86.

ROQUE MISSES FIRST CAREER GAME: Junior Angel Roque had her string of 55 consecutive starts and 74 consecutive games played snapped on Monday when she missed the Buffalo game with a finger injury. It marked the first game that Roque missed in her CSU career. Prior to sitting out, Roque had been playing some of the best basketball of her career, averaging 7.7 points and 3.8 assists per contest over the previous six games. The streak started with a 13 point, three assist effort at American (Nov. 30) and was followed by a 10 point, four assist game at Akron on Dec. 3. Roque then had back-to-back five assist games agaisnt Kent State and Ohio State before scoring 11 points at Ohio. Roque is ranked sixth in the Horizon League with a 1.3 assist-to-turnover ratio (35 assists to 27 turnovers) and 10th with 3.2 assists per game.

...BUT GARLAND COMES TO THE RESCUE: Sophomore Shawnita Garland received her first career start in Angel Roque's abscence on Monday and did a more than admirable job filling in. Garland scored a season-high tying 18 points, hitting all eight of her shots, including a three-pointer. Garland, who also had four rebounds, three assists and two steals, raised her season scoring average to 10.5 points per game and once again leads the league in field goal percentage (50-90; .556).

GARLAND ENJOYING SUCCESS: Prior to making her first career start on Monday, Shawnita Garland was providing the Vikings with a spark off the bench and was a leading candidate for the Horizon League Sixth Player of the Year Award. She is averaging 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.6 steals per game, scoring in double figures seven times this season, including the last three games and four of the last five contests. She leads the league in field goal percentage (.556), while ranking fifth in steals (2.6).

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Through seven weeks of the season, Cleveland State is the only team to have two different players earn a Horizon League Player of the Week honors. Dominique Butler earned the award for the first time in her career on Nov. 24, while Kailey Klein picked up her fourth career award on Dec. 22. Green Bay, Valparaiso, Butler, Milwaukee and UIC have each had one player earn the weekly award this season.

KLEIN TAKES OVER SCORING LEAD: Kailey Klein has taken over the scoring lead in the Horizon League following her 22 point outburst against Buffalo on Monday. Klein, who is averaging 23.4 points per game over her last five contests, has raised her season scoring average to 19.2 points, holding a slim lead over Milwaukee's Traci Edwards who is averaging 19.0 points per game.

... AND CHASING THIRD STRAIGHT SCORING CROWN: Kailey Klein is in familiar territory, leading the team with a 19.2 scoring average. Klein is attempting to become just the third player in school history to lead the team in scoring in three straight seasons. She began the streak as a freshman, averaging 11.0 points per game, the second lowest average by a player who led the squad, and increased her scoring average to 19.9 points per game as a sophomore. Klein would join Megan Williams (1994-97) and Debra Taylor (1987-91) as the only players to lead the team in scoring for three consecutive seasons.

KLEIN PERFECT AT THE LINE: Kailey Klein was a perfect 14-for-14 at the free throw line on Dec. 21 against Niagara, marking the second best performance by a Division I player this season. Only DePaul's Deirdre Naughton who made 16-of-16 against Illinois State (11/28) ranks higher than Klein. In addition to being the second best performance in the nation this season, it ranked as the second best effort in school history, trailing only Debra Taylor, who went 15-for-15 against Valparaiso (1/11/90). For Klein, it was the third time in her career that she made all of her free throws while attempting at least 10, going 11-for-11 at Colgate and at Loyola last season.

... AND BREAKS SCHOOL RECORD: With her 14-for-14 performance at the line against Niagara on Sunday (Dec. 21), Kailey Klein broke Deb Taylor's school record for career free throws made. Klein has now made 398 free throws at CSU, while her 497 career free throw attempts rank third all-time in school history, just 65 shy of breaking Lanette Taylor's career record of 561. For good measure, Klein's career .801 (398-497) percentage from the free throw line is second in program history. THE ONE AND ONLY: Kailey Klein is proving that her selection to the preseason All-Horizon League first team was indeed no fluke as she is the only player in the league to rank in the top-10 in points, rebounds and assists. Klein is first in scoring (19.2), ninth in rebounding (6.3) and eighth in assists (3.3).

A PERFECT 30: Kailey Klein scored a CSU season high 30 points in a Dec. 15 loss at Ohio State, marking the sixth time in her career that she scored at least 30 points in a game, the most in school history. Klein's six 30 point games betters the old mark of five 30 point contests, which was shared by Deb Taylor, Dianne Foster and Lanette Taylor.

100TH GAME NEXT FOR BUTLER: When Dominique Butler takes the floor at Butler on Saturday, it will be the 100th contest of her CSU career. With at least 19 games left on the schedule (including at least one in the Horizon League Championship), Butler could wind up playing 118 games, which would rank as the second most in school history. Brittany Korth (2004-08) holds the school record with 120 games played.

CSU IN THE NCAA STATS: The fourth edition of the NCAA statistics were released on Dec. 22 and CSU was well represented. The Vikings ranked 31st in the country in free throw percentage (.747) and 65th in steals (10.3). Individually, CSU's Kailey Klein was 26th in scoring (18.9) and 35th in free throw percentage (87.2), while Dominique Butler (3.3) and Shawnita Garland (2.6) were 16th and 51st, respectively in steals. BUTLER NEARING 1,000 PONTS: Senior Dominique Butler is continuing her quest to become the 21st player in school history to reach the career 1,000 point mark, needing just 25 points to reach the career 1,000 point plateau.

1,000 TIMES TWO: If Dominique Butler joins Kailey Klein with 1,000 career points this season, they will be just the third pair of teammates to score their 1,000th point in the same season for CSU. Ashley Schrock and Shannon Sword were the last to accomplish the feat in 2003-04, while Terri Miller and Lisa Kipp were the first ones to do it during the 1987-88 season.

ANOTHER BUTLER MILESTONE IN REACH: Dominique Butler is on the verge of becoming just the 12th player in program history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds in a career. Butler, who has 535 career rebounds, is 25 points shy of 1,000. She would join Audra Cook, Dianne Foster, Deb Taylor, Mary Petrecca, Lanette Taylor, Terri Miller, Sue Hlavacek, Ashley Schrock, Megan Williams, Mahogany Green and Shannon Sword as the only players in school history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for their careers.

... AND IF YOU ADD STEALS: Dominique Butler will be in even more elite company as Dianne Foster is currently the only player in school history who has recorded 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 250 steals for a career. Butler who has 535 rebounds and 253 steals. Foster is the school-record holder for career points (1,851) and ranks second in rebounds (941) and steals (355).

THE BUTLER STOLE IT: Dominique Butler set a career-high with nine steals on Dec. 6 against Kent State, surpassing her previous career-high of eight steals done multiple times. Her nine steals, which are tied for the third most in a game in CSU history, are also tied for the third highest total in a Division I game this season. Only Vivian Frieson of Gonzaga and Angel McCoughtry of Louisville have had more swipes in a game this season (10).

TALE OF TWO HALVES: It seems the Vikings might need the first half to get warmed up on the offensive end. Through 11 games, CSU is averaging 27.5 points and shooting .354 (119-336) from the field in the first half. However, the Vikings have been the complete opposite over the final 20 minutes, averaging 39.2 points in the second half, while shooting .516 (162-314) from the floor.

WORKING OVERTIME: The 84-77 overtime loss to Kent State on Dec. 6 marked the fourth consecutive season that the Vikings played an overtime game and CSU fell to 13-16 all-time in games that go into OT. In fact, the Vikings have lost five consecutive overtime games with CSU's last win coming against Wright State, 72-68, on March 10, 2000, in the Horizon League Championship semifinals.

OUT OF THE BLUE: Freshman Destinee Blue has seen a bump in her playing time over the last three contests, averaging 14.3 minutes during that time, including a career-high 19 minutes against Niagara (Dec. 21). Over the three game stretch, Blue is averaging 3.7 points and 2.7 rebounds, totaling a career-high tying six points and career-high five rebounds versus Niagara. She also had four points and three boards at Ohio State (Dec. 15).

VIKINGS PICKED FOURTH IN PRESEASON POLL: CSU has been selected to finish fourth in the 2008-09 Horizon League Preseason poll in voting conducted by coaches, media and sports information directors. CSU received 228 points and one first place vote, finishing behind first place Green Bay (284 points, 24 first place votes), Wright State (241; 1) and Milwaukee (240; 2). Last season, the Vikings were tabbed eighth and went on to win their first-ever Horizon League Championship after finishing fourth in the regular season.

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE: After struggling at the free throw line through six games (73-106; .689), the Vikings have picked up the pace over the last six games, hitting .765 (114-149) from the charity stripe. CSU has vaulted all the way up to second in the league in free throw percentage (.733) one year after leading the league and finishing fourth in the nation (.797≠) from the line.

A MUCH IMPROVED TEAM: The Vikings were the fifth most improved team in Division I in 2007-08 with a nine and a half game improvement. After going 8-22 in 2006-07, CSU turned things around by going 19-14 last season.

FIT TO BE QUEEN: Junior Angel Roque picked up the title of Homecoming Queen during the annual Vike Fest activities and her honor was announced at Viking Madness on Oct. 17. The king was men's basketball standout Cedric Jackson.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Vikings have done a good job protecting their home court this season, going 4-1 with the lone loss an overtime setback to Kent State. In fact, the Vikings have gone 13-6 at home over the past two seasons after going just 12-29 in the Wolstein Center during the previous three seasons.

KLEIN HAS HIGH SCHOOL JERSEY RETIRED: Kailey Klein had her high school No. 23 jersey retired at Hall H.S. in a ceremony on Dec. 12 between the varsity girls and boys games in Spring Valley, Ill. The all-time leading scorer in school history, Klein scored a conference record 2,496 career points, adding 1,188 rebounds. She averaged 24.0 points per game as a senior, finishing as the third runner-up for Illinois Ms. Basketball.

WINTON TO JOIN VIKINGS: Shalonda Winton, one of the top players in Pennsylvania, has singed a National Letter of Intent to play at Cleveland State beginning with the 2009-10 academic year. A 5-foot-11 wing/forward, Winton averaged 16.0 points per game as a junior leading Westinghouse H.S. to the Pittsburgh City League Championship and a 23-5 overall record. Winton was named to the all-city first team, as well as the Pittsburgh Post Gazette first team last season.

UP NEXT: The Vikings head to Valparaiso for an 8:00 p.m. CST contest on Monday, Jan. 5.