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Vikings Return Home to Host Kent State on Saturday
Dec. 5, 2008
Contact: Greg Murphy
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GAME 8 Kent State (5-1) at Cleveland State (4-3) SETTING THE SCENE: Cleveland State returns home for just the third time this season when the Vikings host Kent State at 3:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center on Saturday, Dec. 6. The game will be the first Family Value Saturday of the season that includes a Kid's Zone with inflatables, face painting, $1.00 hot dogs and much more. The Vikings enter the contest with a 4-3 mark following a 70-54 win at Akron on Wednesday (Dec. 3) night, while Kent State is 5-1 following a 69-54 win at UNC-Wilmington on Thursday night. 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 (16.1 ppg, 6.6 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 (6.9 ppg, 2.9 apg) and Jessica Roque (12.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg), while sophomore Shawnita Garland (8.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.3 spg) serves as the top reserve off the bench. Senior Dominique Butler (13.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.4 spg) leads the frontcourt after earning Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year accolades last season, while junior Stephaine Crosley (4.3 ppg, 5.1 rpg) slides into the starting lineup with senior Natalie Miller (0.6 ppg, 0.6 rpg) also figuring into the rotation. Freshman guards Janelle Adams (1.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg) and Takima Keane (1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg) and forward Destinee Blue (1.7 ppg, 1.3 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 51-104 (.329) 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. CSU IN THE NCAA STATS: When the first edition of the NCAA stats were released on Dec. 2, the Vikings found themselves ranked 22nd in the nation in field goal percentage (.463). Individually, senior Dominique Butler was ranked 47th in the country in field goal percentage (.542) and 70th in steals per game (2.7). Junior Kailey Klein's 17.2 scoring average ranked 84th in the nation at the time the stats were released. KLEIN 15TH ON SCORING LIST: With 10 points at Akron on Wednesday, junior Kailey Klein increased her career scoring total to 1,085 points and maintained her hold on 15th place on the CSU career scoring list. Next up for Klein on the scoring list is Sue Koziel, who is 13 points (1,098) ahead of Klein in 14th place. ... AND CHASING THIRD STRAIGHT SCORING CROWN: Kailey Klein is once again in familiar territory, leading the team with a 16.1 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. 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 scored a season-high 20 points at Akron on Wednesday, needs 69 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 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 503 career rebounds, is 69 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 needs just 20 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: Saturday's game versus Kent State will be the fifth of seven games that CSU will play against Mid-American Conference schools this season. CSU, which has defeated Toledo, Eastern Michigan and Akron and lost to Ball State, has a home game against MAC member Buffalo (12/29) and a road contest at Ohio (12/19) left on the schedule. TALE OF TWO HALVES: It seems the Vikings might need the first half to get warmed up on the offensive end. Through seven games, CSU is averaging 28.1 points and shooting .399 (85-213) from the field in the first half. However, the Vikings have been the complete opposite over the final 20 minutes, averaging 37.0 points in the second half, while shooting .525 (107-204) from the floor. 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 39-of-47 (.830) at the line this season, ranks third in school history in free throws made (356), just 35 shy of breaking Debra Taylor's record. In addition, Klein's 449 career attempts are fifth all-time in program history, just 112 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 made 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. THE TOP-6: The majority of the damage done this season has been done by Cleveland State's top-six players - starters Stephaine Crosley, Dominique Butler, Kailey Klein, Angel Roque and Jessica Roque and sixth player Shawnita Garland. Together, the six have accounted for 96-percent of CSU's points, 80-percent of their rebounds, 94-percent of CSU's assists and 92-percent of the Vikings steals. CROSLEY STEPS UP: After scoring just eight points and grabbing 16 rebounds in CSU's first four games, Stephaine Crosley has broken out of her mini-slump by averaging 7.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in CSU's last three games. She scored seven points with five boards vs. Toledo (Nov. 26), before coming back with four points and 10 rebounds, the second highest total of her career, at American. Crosley then had a season-high 11 points and three rebounds on Wednesday night at Akron. 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 serious consideration for the Horizon League's Sixth Player of the Year Award. Garland is averaging 8.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.3 steals per game in 26.9 minutes per game, ranking fourth in the league in field goal percentage (.575), and sixth in steals (2.3). 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. ROQUE LIKES STARTING: Junior Jessica Roque has responded well in her return to the starting lineup this season as she is averaging 12.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. She leads the team with 12 three-pointers, ranking seventh in the league in three-pointers per game (1.7). 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 the win over Toledo, hitting 4-of-8 from three-point. 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. 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. UP NEXT: The Vikings have next week off before returning to action on Monday, Dec. 15, with a 7:00 p.m. contest at Ohio State.
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