Feb. 29, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

Complete Release in PDF Format

SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State concludes the 2007-08 regular season home schedule when the Vikings host Butler on Saturday, March 1, beginning at 3:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The Vikings enter the contest tied for third place in the Horizon League standings with Milwauke at 9-6. The duo is one-game behind second place Wright State (10-5) and one-half game ahead of both Butler and Valparaiso, who are each 8-8 and tied for fifth place. The top four seeds will host quarterfinal games in the tournament on March 12.

PREVIEWING CLEVELAND STATE: Cleveland State has made huge strides from last season's 8-22 team, having already surpassed that win total (15-11) and standing four games over .500 after 26 games for the first time since 1983-84. With the return of four starters, the Vikings have experience at every position and a solid bench to rely on. Horizon League Player of the Year candidate Kailey Klein (19.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.0 apg) is ranked second in the league in scoring. She is joined in the backcourt by senior Brittany Korth (9.1, 4.8, 3.9) and sophomore Angel Roque (5.8, 2.5 apg), who has set the defensive tone for the Vikings this season with her ball pressure out front. Junior Dominique Butler (10.5, 5.8 rpg) and senior Robyn Hoying (5.4, 3.4) have started all 26 games in the frontcourt. CSU has received tremendous production from its bench, led by sophomore forward Stephaine Crosley (5.0, 4.1), freshman guard Shawnita Garland (3.9, 1.9) and sophomore guard Jessica Roque (4.3, 1.7). Junior Natalie Miller (2.8, 1.6) provides depth at the wing-forward spot, but has missed the last six games due to an injury.

THE HEAD COACH: Kate Peterson Abiad is in her fifth year as the head coach at CSU. She claims an overall record of 43-98 and ranks third all-time in coaching victories at Cleveland State. Prior to arriving at CSU, Peterson Abiad spent six years as an assistant at Wisconsin, serving as the recruiting coordinator starting in 1998. While in Madison, she helped lead the Badgers to the NCAA Tournament three times and to the 2000 WNIT championship. She also worked at Eastern Illinois (1993-97) and Indiana (1991-93). A 1991 graduate of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, she earned Kodak All-America honors as a senior after setting the NCAA Division III record for three-point field goals per game (3.85).

SENIOR DAY IS SATURDAY: Saturday's game against Butler will be the final regular season contest in the Wolstein Center for Viking seniors Robyn Hoying and Brittany Korth and the pair will be honored in a pre-game ceremony. Hoying, a native of Minster, Ohio, has played in 107 career games, including 55 starts. She has averaged 3.6 points and 2.9 rebounds during her career. Korth has appeared in 113 career games and started 92 times. Korth, who has averaged 7.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists during her career, is ranked second in CSU history in career three-pointers made (152) and attempted (540) and sixth in career assists (325).

CAREER DAY FOR BUTLER: Dominique Butler had a career day on Saturday (Feb. 23) at Youngstown State, finishing with a career-high 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Butler also had eight rebounds, four steals and hit all seven of her free throws. Her previous career scoring high was 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field at Miami (OH) on Dec. 1, 2007.

KORTH NOT TO SHABBY, EITHER: Senior Brittany Korth played one of her finest all-around games during her time at CSU on Saturday (Feb. 23) at Youngstown State, totaling 15 points, five rebounds and three steals. However, her most impressive statistics were seven assists and zero turnovers in 39 minutes of action.

ON THE MARK: Dominique Butler has found the range of late, hitting17-of-26 (.654) from the field over the last three games to move into seventh place in the Horizon League in field goal percentage (.521). That percentage also ranks as the seventh best for a single season in CSU history. Butler is attempting to become just the ninth player in school-history to shoot better than .500 (minimum of 150 field goal attempts) from the field in a season and the first since Mandy Sichting shot .531 (85-160) in 2004-05.

ON THE HORIZON: Saturday's (Feb. 23) win at Youngstown State was CSU's ninth in league play this season, which ties the record for most league wins in a season. This year's squad currently shares the mark with the 2003-04 team which went 9-7 in league play in Kate Peterson Abiad's first season at the helm.

WHERE WE STAND: With three games left this season, Cleveland State is in a battle to earn one of the top four seeds in the upcoming league tournament, which would ensure the Vikings hosting a quarterfinal game on March 12. Green Bay has already clinched the regular season title, but there are six teams fighting for the final three spots. Following is a look at the teams and their remaining schedules.

Team Games Left
2. Wright State (10-5) vs. UIC, @ Green Bay, @ Milwaukee
3. Cleveland State (9-6) vs. Butler, @ UIC, @ Loyola
4. Milwaukee (9-6) @ Green Bay, vs. Detroit, vs. Wright State
5. Valparaiso (8-8) @ Youngstown State, @ Butler
6. Butler (8-8) @ Cleveland State, vs. Valparaiso
7. Youngstown State (7-8) vs. Valparaiso, @ Loyola, @ UIC

VIKINGS GO COLD: Cleveland State never got on track from the field in Thursday's loss to Valparaiso, hitting just .328 (21-64) from the field, the third worst percentage this season. In addition, the Vikings hit a season-low two three-pointers on 21 attempts for a season-worst .095 effort.

ALL ABOUT KLEIN: With three regular season games remaining, Horizon League Player of the Year candidateKailey Klein has put together one of the best seasons in school history. Here are some highlights.
• Second in the league and 16th in the country in scoring (19.4) by tallying double figures in 23 of the 26 games.
• Has 12, 20-point games and four 30-point efforts.
• Three-time Horizon League Player of the Week (12/31 & 1/28 & 2/4).
• Ranks fourth in the league in free throw percentage (.842), seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.391), ninth in steals (1.73), 10th in offensive rebounding (2.12), 11th in rebounding (5.5) and minutes played (32.50), 12th in field goal percentage (.466) and 14th in assists (3.04).
• Named to Preseason All-Horizon League first team and Great Alaska Shootout All-Tournament team.
• Has had two separate streaks of 18 consecutive made free throws. • Tied school-record with 15 free throws made against Ohio (11/26).
• Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Week (11/27) and January Scholar-Athlete of the Month.
• Went 11-for-11 at the free throw line at Colgate (12/20), the second best performance at the charity stripe in school history for a single game.
• Tied her career-high with 33 points at Alaska Anchorage (11/20), at Valparaiso (2/2) and at Detroit (2/16).
• Hit jumper at the buzzer to lift CSU over American, 65-63 (12/29).
• Recorded first career double-double versus Youngstown State (1/26) with 30 points and career-high 11 rebounds.
• Has made 154 free throws, the most in a single season at CSU. Her 183 attempts are fourth most in a season at CSU, two shy of third place.

500: With a 25-point effort on Thursday night against Valparaiso, Kailey Klein joined an exclusive club in CSU history, becoming just the 10th player in program history to reach the 500-point plateau for a single season. Klein, who now has 504 points this season, became the first CSU player to score 500 points in a season since Erika Roudebush scored 544 points in 2002-03. Her 504 points are the ninth most in a single season at CSU, just five shy of eight place, 17 shy of seventh place and 24 short of sixth place.

KLEIN AT DETROIT: Sophomore Kailey Klein does not seem to mind playing in Calihan Hall in Detroit as she tied her career-high with 33 points on Feb. 16. It was the fourth time that Klein reached the 33 point mark for her career with one of the times coming last season in Detroit (Feb. 10). In two career games in Calihan Hall, Klein is averaging 33.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists, while shooting 21-of35 (.600) from the field, 6-for-13 (.462) from three-point and 18-of-24 (750) at the free throw line.

HOME SWEET HOME: The Vikings are 8-4 at home this season, including 6-2 in league play. The eight wins are tied for the third most home wins in school-history with the record of 11 shared by the 1982-83 and 1998-99 squads.

THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: Cleveland State enters the week with a 15-11 overall record, including a 9-6 mark in league play, giving CSU seven more overall and four more league wins than all of last season. The Vikings went 8-22 overall and 5-11 in league play last season. The 15 wins are tied for the fourth most in school history and the most for a CSU team since the 1999-2000 team finished 15-15.

BIG IMPROVEMENT: The Vikings have won seven more games than all of last season, marking the second best improvement from one season to the next in program history. The record is nine games from 1981-82 (14-15) to 1982-83 (23-6).

SAME `OLE ROUTINE: Head coach Kate Peterson Abiad has had the luxury of using the same starting lineup for all 26 contests this season with Dominique Butler and Robyn Hoying in the frontcourt and Angel Roque, Brittany Korth and Kailey Klein in the backcourt. That has allowed Peterson Abiad to define the roles of her five bench players and establish a consistent roatation with nine players averaging double digit minutes. That is a far cry from last season when injuries forced Peterson Abiad to use six starting lineups through 26 games.

AFTER 26: CSU carries a 15-11 record into Saturday's game, the best 26-game mark since the 1983-84 team started the year with an 18-7 mark. It is only the third time in school history that CSU had a 15-11 record or better through 26 games.

SPECIAL "K": Sophomore Kailey Klein is attempting to join an elite group of company in CSU history. After leading the team in scoring as a freshman (11.0), Klein is on track to lead the team in scoring for the second straight season as she is averaging 19.4 points per game this season. She would be just the third player in school history to lead the team in scoring in her first two seasons, joining Sue Hlavacek (1974-75, 1975-76) and Deb Taylor (1987-88, 1988-89).

ROAD SWEET ROAD: The Vikings entered the season with a 4-42 record away from the Wolstein Center over the last three seasons. But it appears that CSU has figured out how to win on the road as the Vikings have gone 7-7 away from Cleveland this season, including a victory at Butler on Jan. 31. That win allowed the Vikings to snap a five-game losing streak at Hinkle Fieldhouse. In fact, it was almost six years to the date of CSU's last victory at Butler, a 79-71 win on Feb. 2, 2002.

VIKINGS GO BACK-TO-BACK: The Vikings finished the month of January with a 6-2 (.750) record, their best mark in a month since going 9-3 (.750) in December of 1983. It was also CSU's second consecutive winning month after posting a 4-2 mark in December, marking the first time the Vikings have recorded back-to-back winning months since November (3-1) and December (5-2) of 1999. CSU has not put together three consecutive winning months since December of 1983 through February of 1984.

... BUT CAN'T EXTEND STREAK : CSU could not clinch a third straight winning month, finishing 3-4 in February after Thursday's loss to Valparaiso. The Vikings won their first two games in February, but three straight losses put the streak in serious jeopardy before CSU won at Youngstown State on Feb. 23 to get back to .500 setting up the make or break game with the Crusaders.

WINNING SEASON CLINCHED: With three games remaining in the regular season and a minimum of one game in the Horizon League Tournament, the Vikings have assured themselves of their first non-losing season since the 2000-01 team posted a 14-14 mark. If CSU wins one more game, the Vikings will finish above .500 for the first time since the 1998-99 team went 15-13.

KORTH KEEPS PLAYING: Brittany Korth has played in 113 career games and needs to play in four more to equal Juli Grant's (1995-00) school record of 117 career games played. Barring unforseen circumstances or injury, Korth will at least tie the record as CSU has three more regular season games and will play at least one game in the league tournament.

FOR STARTERS: When Brittany Korth drew a starting assignment on Thursday against Valparaiso, she moved into fifth place on the all-time list at CSU for most career starts.Korth, who has started 92 career games, needs two more starts to take over sole possession of fourth place from Debra Taylor who started 93 games from 1987-91.

FOR THE RECORD: Kailey Klein didn't set any school-records with her 14-for-18 performance at the free throw line at Butler (Jan. 31), but she came awfully close. Her 14 makes were one shy of the school-record held by Deb Taylor (1/11/90; at Valparaiso) and Klein (11/26/07; vs. Ohio), while her 18 attempts are tied for the second most in a game with Sue Hlavecek (3/3/78; vs. Miami (OH)). Taylor holds the CSU record with 21 free throw attempts vs. St. Bonaventure on Jan. 4, 1992.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Kailey Klein added another first to her career on Jan. 26 when she recorded her first career double-double in a 77-64 win over Youngstown State. Klein finished with a game-high 30 points, just three shy of her career-high, and added a career-best 11 rebounds. Klein is the third CSU player to tally a double-double this season, joining Stephaine Crosley, who had 11 points and 13 rebounds at IUPUI (12/5), and Robyn Hoying, who totaled 20 points and 10 boards at Green Bay (1/10).

THE BUTLER DID IT: Dominique Butler recorded a season-high seven steals on Thursday to raise her team leading total to 71 and move closer to overtaking the Horizon League lead. Butler, who led the league in steals in each of her first two seasons, is ranked second this season with 2.73 steals per game. She trails Wright State's Sheylani Peddy who has 74 steals in 24 games (3.08). For her career, Butler has swiped 199 steals, ranking eighth on the all-time list at CSU, and needs one more steals to become the eighth player in school-history to record 200 career steals.

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE: CSU is the best free throw shooting team in the league, hitting 370-of-465 attempts for a .796 percentage, a far cry from last season's .684 (425-621) percentage from the line. In fact, the Vikings, who are ranked fifth in the nation in free throw percentage, are shooting better from the free throw line than all but three NBA teams. CSU is on pace to shatter the school-record for free throw percentage in a season, currently held by the 2000-01 squad which shot .728 (480-659). The league record for free throw percentage in a season is .801 set by Green Bay last season.

.700: The Vikings have had just three seasons (out of 34) in which they have finished with a free throw percentage better than .700. The last time it happened was the 2003-04 season when CSU hit .709 (406-573). The other two seasons were 2000-01 (480-659; .728) and 2001-02 (442-617; .716).

FREE THROWS ARE A TEAM EFFORT: The Vikings have made it a true team effort to lead the league in free throw percentage as seven players are shooting better than .700 from the line. However, only Kailey Klein ranks among the league leaders in free throw percentage, ranking fourth at .842 (154-183). No other player has made the minimum of 2.0 free throws per game to be ranked among the leaders. Dominique Butler is second on the team with 50 made free throws, and would be ranked fourth in the league (.847) if she had two more makes.

A DEEPER LOOK AT FREE THROWS: Kailey Klein has been the only Viking to get to the free throw line on a consistent basis. In 26 games, she has taken 39 percent (183-of-465) of CSU's free throws, including 38-percent (95-of-249) of the Vikings free throws in 15 league games.

DEFENSIVE MINDED: CSU continues to be one of the top defensive teams in the league, ranking first in steals (10.08), second in field goal percentage defense (.394) and third in scoring defense (62.3). The Vikings have allowed only six teams to shoot better than .400 from the field and have held four teams under 50 points. Last season, CSU allowed teams to shoot better than .400 on 19 occasions and better than .500 five times, while holding just three teams under 50 points.

MOVING ON UP: Brittany Korth continues to move up the all-time list for career three-pointers made and attempted. Korth is second in school-history with 152 career makes 550 attempts. Korth is also sixth on the all-time assist list with 325, needing 19 assists to take over sixth place.

CRYING FOUL: One interesting stat for CSU this season has been the foul count as the Vikings have been whistled for 467 fouls compared to 441 for their opponents. However, when delving deeper into the subject, you find that CSU has had 20 disqualifications this season, compared to zero for its opponents. The 20 disqualifications are tied for the second most in school-history with the 1979-80 and 1988-89 teams. The school-record for DQ's in a season is 28 by the 1991-92 squad.

THE BIG THREE: When looking at the statistics, it is easy to see there are three big factors in determining when the Vikings win and when they lose. Those factors are rebounding, scoring defense and field goal defense. In 15 wins, the Vikings own a +1.7 rebounding advantage, while holding opponents to 55.4 points and .362 shooting from the field. On the other hand, CSU has a -4.8 deficit in rebounding and gives up 71.6 points on .437 shooting in 11 losses this season.

NOT PLAYING NICELY: The Vikings regained the steals lead (10.08) in the Horizon League with 15 against Valparaiso on Thursday night. In addition, CSU boasts three of the top nine individual leaders in steals with Dominique Butler ranking second (2.73), Brittany Korth eighth (1.81) and Kailey Klein ninth (1.73). The Vikings have swiped double-digit steals in 15 contests this season, including a season-best 19 vs. Akron (Nov. 17), which were the most steals by a Viking squad since CSU recorded 19 steals against IPFW on Feb. 26, 2003.

FROM THE FIELD: The Vikings have shot well from the field this season, hitting .424 (587-1,386) to rank fourth in the Horizon League. That total would be the fourth best in school-history, trailing the 1992-93 (.442), 1983-84 (.438) and 2002-03 (.428) squads. CSU has not shot better than .400 from the field since 2003-04 when they hit .405.

FROM THREE: CSU is also shooting .323 (146-452) from three-point this season, which would be the second best percentage for a single season in program history. The current record is .328 (117-357) held by the 1992-93 team. CSU shot just .272 (123-453) from three-point last season.

NO SUSPENSE: Nineteen of CSU's 26 games have been decided by 10 points or more with the 15 wins coming by an average of 13.9 points. CSU's 11 losses have been by an average of 12.5 points.

AND WE TEND TO KNOW BY HALFTIME ...: Whether CSU will win or not. After all, the Vikings are 13-2 this season when holding a lead after the first 20 minutes of action. CSU's two losses when leading at the half this season were an 80-72 overtime loss at Alaska Anchorage when the Vikings led 24-20 at halftime and a Jan. 12 loss at Milwaukee (63-52) when the Vikings held an eight-point (30-22) lead at intermission. The Vikings are just 2-9 when trailing or tied at the half.

HOMETOWN COOKIN': Milwaukee native Dominique Butler apparently likes to save her best for when the Vikings play her hometown Panthers as Butler averaged 14.5 points and 6.0 rebounds, while shooting .560 in two games against UWM this season. In six career games against the Panthers, Butler is averaging 12.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

VIKINGS SHOOT LIGHTS OUT: Cleveland State recorded the second best shooting performance in school history in a Feb. 2 win over Valparaiso as the Vikings shot .571 (32-56) from the field. The only time a Viking team shot better from the field was Jan. 21, 1980 at Niagara when CSU shot .627 (32-51).

BEYOND THE ARC: The Vikings 9-for-14 (.643) effort from three-point range against Detroit on Jan. 17 equaled the school-record for the best percentage by a CSU team. CSU also went 9-for-14 against Green Bay on Jan. 2, 2003.

PERFECTION: For just the second time in school history, the Vikings did not miss a free throw in a game as CSU was 14-for-14 at the charity stripe on Feb. 2 at Valparaiso. It was the second best performance in a single game, topped only by a 15-for-15 effort at Milwaukee on Feb. 4, 1995. The streak was extended to 22 straight makes before Stephaine Crosley missed a free throw late against Milwaukee (Feb. 7).

WHO NEEDS BATMAN...: When you have Robyn, as in Viking senior Robyn Hoying. The Minster, Ohio native has picked up her game during league play, averaging 6.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. She had the best game of her career at Green Bay (1/10) when she produced career-highs in points (20) and rebounds (10) for her first career double-double. Hoying, who has hit 15 of her 17 free throw attempts in league play, also scored 16 points in a Jan. 26 win over Youngstown State (1/26).

UP NEXT: CSU concludes the regular season with two games in Chicago, Ill., next week beginning with a 7:00 p.m. CST contest at UIC on Thursday, March 6.