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Vikings Take Short Trip to Akron on Wednesday
Dec. 2, 2008
Contact: Greg Murphy
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SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State remains on the road when the Vikings make the short drive down Interstate-77 for a 7:00 p.m. meeting at Akron on Wednesday, Dec. 3. The Vikings lead the all-time series with Akron, 23-16, including wins in three of the last four match-ups. Wednesday's game will be the fourth of seven games that CSU will play against Mid-American Conference teams this season. 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. Headlining the list of returnees is junior guard Kailey Klein (17.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 3.3 apg), who was selected to the preseason All-Horizon League team for the second straight season. She finished her sophomore campaign with a school-record 654 points, earning first team All-Horizon League accolades. She is joined in the backcourt by junior twin sisters Angel (6.3 ppg, 2.7 apg) and Jessica Roque (12.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg), while sophomore Shawnita Garland (8.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.5 spg) serves as the top reserve off the bench. Senior Dominique Butler (12.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 2.7 spg) leads the frontcourt after earning Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year accolades last season, while junior Stephaine Crosley (3.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg) slides into the starting lineup. Senior Natalie Miller (0.7 ppg, 0.7 rpg) and sophomore Justine Hayes (0.5 rpg) will also receive minutes in the frontcourt. Freshman guards Janelle Adams (1.8 ppg, 1.2 rpg) and Takima Keane (1.5 ppg, 1.0 rpg) and forward Destinee Blue (1.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg) are slowly working their way into the rotation as they adjust to the speed and flow of the collegiate game. THE HEAD COACH: Kate Peterson Abiad is in her sixth year as the head coach of the Vikings and claims an overall record of 50-104 (.325) 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, she 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 NOW 15TH ON SCORING LIST: With 23 points at American on Sunday, junior Kailey Klein moved into 15th place on the CSU career scoring list with 1,075 points. Klein's scoring output allowed her to move past LeAnna Hicks, who tallied 1,059 points from 1994-99. Next up for Klein is Sue Koziel, who is 23 points (1,098) ahead of Klein in 14th place. BUTLER CLOSING IN ON 1,000 POINTS: Senior Dominique Butler is continuing her quest to become the 21st player in school history to reach the career 1,000 point mark. Butler, who had a quiet week with nine points in two games last week, needs 89 more points to reach the 1,000-point plateau. ELITE COMPANY: 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 needs 89 more points and three more rebounds, 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 to accomplish the feat. ... 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 needs just 21 more steals to reach 250 for her career. Foster is the school-record holder for career points (1,851) and ranks second in rebounds (941) and steals (355). MAC ATTACK: Wednesday's game at Akron is the fourth of seven games that CSU will play against Mid-American Conference schools this season. CSU, which has defeated Toledo and Eastern Michigan and lost to Ball State, has home games against MAC members Kent State and Buffalo and a road contest at Ohio left on the schedule. TOUGH SCHEDULE: CSU has six games on the schedule against teams that advanced to the postseason last year. CSU has already played Arizona State and Illinois State, teams that went to the NCAA tournament and American, an NIT qualifier a year ago. The Vikings still have contests with NCAA tournament qualifier Ohio State and NIT qualifier Green Bay (twice). HORIZON LEAGUE 7TH IN RPI RANKINGS: Horizon League women's basketball teams have been recognized for a strong start to the 2008-09 basketball season, as the league is ranked seventh in the conference RPI, according to CollegeRPI.com. Overall, Horizon League women's basketball teams are 26-21 (.553), and own wins over at least one team from the ACC, SEC and Mountain West. Following is a list of the top-10 conference RPI rankings. Rank Conference RPI KLEIN AT THE LINE: Kailey Klein continues her torrid assault on the CSU record book for career free throws made and attempted. The junior, who has hit 35-of-42 (.833) at the line this season, ranks third in school history in free throws made (352), just 39 shy of breaking Debra Taylor's record. In addition, Klein's 444 career attempts are fifth all-time in program history, just 117 shy of Lanette Taylor's career mark. For good measure, Klein's .793 career free throw percentage is third all-time in CSU history. AND SHE CAN HIT THEM WITH ONE EYE: During Sunday's game at American, Kailey Klein was fouled on a drive to the basket and had her contact knocked out. She was forced to shoot the first free throw with just one contact before finding the second one. ... AND ON THE SECOND ONE: Well, Kailey Klein did not get to attempt the second free throw as she was able to find her contact. Forced to go to the bench to put the contact back in, head coach Kate Peterson Abiad selected freshman Takima Keane to take the second free throw, but Keane missed her first career free toss. ... BUT KEANE DID HIT A THREE-POINTER: Freshman Takima Keane received the first extensive action of her career on Sunday (Nov. 30) at American. Playing eight minutes, Keane hit her lone field goal, a three-pointer, and also had two rebounds and a steal. THE TOP-6: The majority of the damage done this season has been done by Cleveland State's top-six players, including starters Stephaine Crosley, Dominique Butler, Kailey Klein, Angel Roque and Jessica Roque and top reserve Shawnita Garland. Together, the six players are accounting for 93-percent of CSU's points, 81-percent of their rebounds, 96-percent of CSU's assists and 98-percent of the Vikings steals. CLEANING THE GLASS: After scoring just eight points and grabbing 16 rebounds in CSU's first four games, junior Stephaine Crosley broke out of her mini-slump by averaging 5.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in CSU's two contests last week. She scored seven points and had five boards vs. Toledo on Nov. 26, before coming back with four points and 10 rebounds, the second highest total of her career, at American on Sunday. DQ'D: Last season, the Vikings had 22 disqualifications from a game because of five fouls, marking the second highest total in school history. This year, it took five games for the first CSU player to foul out when Dominique Butler had five fouls in Wednesday's (Nov. 26) game vs. Toledo. Butler then picked up five more fouls on Sunday (Nov. 30) at American for her second straight disqualification and the 14th of her career. That total is tied for third most in school history. SPARK OFF THE BENCH: Sophomore Shawnita Garland has taken a liking to her role as CSU's top reserve and is playing herself into consideration for the Horizon League's Sixth Player of the Year Award. Garland is averaging 8.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game in 27.0 minutes per game. She ranks third in the league in field goal percentage (.583), sixth in steals (2.5) and ninth in assists (3.3). Garland, who dished out a career-best seven assists at Arizona State (Nov. 14), scored 14 points against Illinois State (Nov. 21) by hitting all five of her shots from the field. 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. NUMBER CHANGE: In addition to wearing her tiara as Homecoming queen, Angel Roque is sporting another new look this season as she has changed her jersey number to 40, the number that she wore in high school. Freshman Kaila Montgomery is wearing Roque's old number (4). ROQUE LIKE STARTING: Junior Jessica Roque has responded well in her return to the starting lineup this season as she is averaging 13.2 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. She has hit 25-of-50 (.500) shots from the field, including 11-of-27 (.407) from three-point. Roque started all 30 games as a freshman and was CSU's top reserve last season, coming off the bench in 32 of the 33 games. She scored 19 points, the second most in her career, in Wednesday's win over Toledo, hitting 4-of-8 from three-point. In addition, Roque added four rebounds in a career-high 36 minutes of work. KLEIN NAMED TO ALL-HORIZON LEAGUE SQUAD: Junior guard Kailey Klein has made quite an impression on the league during her first two seasons and has been selected to the preseason All-Horizon League first team for the second straight season. Klein received the second most votes in the polling, finishing behind Milwaukee's Traci Edwards who was the preseason Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. 19 WINS WERE SCHOOL-RECORD: CSU won 19 games last season, three more than the Vikings had won in the previous three seasons combined (2004-07). The 19 wins were the second most in school history, topped only by the 1982-83 squad which won 23. CSU also won a school-record 10 Horizon League games last season, breaking the old mark of nine set in 2002-03. 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. The Vikings began the season 3-5, but went on to win 11 of their next 13 contests, including separate win streaks of five and six games. THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE (THROWS): The Vikings set a school-record by shooting .797 (480-602) from the free throw line last season. It was the fourth best percentage in the nation during the 2007-08 campaign and the second highest total in league history, trailing the 2006-07 Green Bay squad which shot .801 (447-558). BUT NOT THIS YEAR, YET: CSU has gotten off to a slower start at the free throw line this season, hitting just 73-of-106 (.689) from the charity stripe to rank fourth in the league. UP NEXT: CSU returns home to host Kent State at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday (Dec. 6) at the Wolstein Center before taking a week off for final exams.
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