Contact: Renee Adam
Follow the Vikings on TWITTER
Follow Women's Basketball on TWITTER
CSU Athletics on YouTube
Become a Fan on Facebook
GAME #22
Cleveland State (11-10, 3-5 HL) at Loyola (7-13, 2-5)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013
Time: 3:00 p.m. EST
Site: Gentile Arena - Chicago, Ill.
Series: CSU Leads, 25-13
Last Meeting: CSU 67, Loyola 65 (@LU, 2/9/12)
SETTING THE SCENE
The Vikings will continue their busiest stretch of the season Saturday (Feb. 9), traveling to Loyola for a 3:00 p.m. EST contest. Saturday's game will mark the second of five contests in a 12-day span for Cleveland State - and the first of three road games during that stretch. CSU enters the weekend standing at 11-10 overall this season and 3-5 in league play after picking up a 68-63 victory over Wright State Thursday evening.
LAST TIME OUT
The Vikings snapped a five-game losing skid with a 68-63 victory over Wright State on Thursday. The win improved CSU's advantage in the overall series to 32-28 against the Raiders, while it also put the Vikings over .500 for the season once again.
A WIN SATURDAY WOULD...
Give CSU an 8-3 record against the Ramblers over the past five seasons...Mark the fourth victory for CSU out of the last five contests against Loyola...Give head coach Kate Peterson Abiad her 130th career victory.
SCOUTING THE RAMBLERS
Loyola enters Saturday's contest standing at 7-13 overall and 2-5 in league play...The Ramblers have won just one contest out of their last five games - an 84-74 victory over Milwaukee...Last time out, Loyola dropped a tough 65-62 contest to league-leading Green Bay...As a team, the Ramblers lead the league in steals averaging 10.4 per contest and rank second in blocked shots with 3.6 per game...Taylor Johnson, who leads the Ramblers with 62 steals on the year, also leads the league averaging 3.1 per game...Monica Albano leads the league averaging 3.2 three-pointers per contest...Albano and Johnson rank ninth (14.1 ppg) and 10th (13.8 ppg) in the league in scoring, respectively.
SECOND HALF COMEBACK
For the fourth time this season Cleveland State had to overcome a double-digit deficit, posting a 19-point comeback - their largest of the season - to earn the victory against the Raiders Thursday evening. The Vikings outscored Wright State 45-26 during the second half, holding Wright State to just 10 made field goals. A large part of CSU's comeback was Shalonda Winton, who notched 21 of her 24 points during the second half. On the season, Winton is averaging 12.5 points during the second half only, while Cori Coleman is averaging 7.0 and Kiersten Green is averaging 6.0.
GORDON RETURNING TO FORM
After missing the Detroit game on Jan. 12 due to injury and struggling to find her offense over the next four games, Imani Gordonhas finally found her offensive touch, recording double-digit performances in the past two contests. Against Valparaiso (Feb. 2) Gordon notched her second double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and then posted 14 points on a 4-for-8 performance from the field against Wright State Thursday evening. So far this season, Gordon is averaging 7.0 points per contest and has notched a .371 field goal percentage.
WINTON ON THE REBOUNDING CHARTS
Shalonda Winton posted a game-high nine rebounds against the Raiders on Thursday and enters the Loyola contest ranking second all-time on the career rebound list at CSU with 985 boards. Winton, who ranks second in the league averaging 10.6 rebounds per game, is now 46 boards shy of becoming the all-time leader at Cleveland State. With at least eight games left in the 2012-13 season, Winton needs to average 5.8 rebounds per contest to become the all-time leader at CSU.
...CLOSING IN ON 1,500 POINTS & 1,000 REBOUNDS
Shalonda Winton is also closing in on becoming just the second player in program history to notch 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds on their career, entering Saturday's contest with 1,645 points and 985 rebounds. With 15 more boards, Winton would join Audra Cook (1,805 pts & 1,030 rbs) as the only Vikings to reach the milestone and would join Youngstown State's Brandi Brown (2009-prs.) and Milwaukee's Traci Edwards (2006-09) as the only league players to achieve the mark.
IN LEAGUE GAMES ONLY...
Cleveland State ranks third in scoring offense averaging 68.9 points per game and ranks second averaging 9.5 steals per contest...The Vikings rank third averaging 38.0 rebounds per game - including a league-best 13.6 offensive boards per contest...Shalonda Winton leads the league averaging 22.8 points per game and ranks third averaging 10.1 rebounds per game...Kiersten Green ranks third with 2.6 steals per game and 18th averaging 12.5 points per game...Cori Coleman ranks 13th with 13.1 points per game and eighth with a .362 three-point field goal percentage.
UP NEXT
The Vikings will have a quick turnaround, as they will return home to host UIC at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11.