YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Cleveland State women's basketball team dropped its first Horizon League contest of the season Thursday evening, falling at Youngstown State, 79-65. With the loss, the Vikings are now 9-6 overall this season and 1-1 in league play, while YSU improves to 13-3 overall and 2-1 in league play.
The Viking offense was led by the senior trio of Imani Gordon, Kiersten Green, and Cori Coleman who combined for 50 of CSU's 65 points on the night. Gordon posted a team-high 19 points along with nine rebounds, while Green added 17 points and Coleman tallied 14.
Cleveland State committed just four turnovers on the night – marking a season-low for the Vikings. On the flip side, the Vikings forced YSU into 16 turnovers, turning them into 21 points.
The Vikings were able to hold a lead for just 50-seconds of the contest, trailing early on in the first half, and went into the halftime break trailing by 12 points, 39-27.
CSU went on a mini 5-3 run to open the second half, closing the gap to 10 points at the 17:11 mark (42-32), but that would be as close as the Vikings would get, as the Penguins responded with five straight points to extend their lead to 47-32 with just under 16 minutes left to play.
Youngstown State controlled play for the remainder of the contest then, holding at least an 11-point advantage for the final 16 minutes.
As a team, the Vikings struggled offensively against the Penguins, shooting just 33-percent from the floor (23-for-68), while Youngstown State shot 50-percent from the field (27-for-54).
The Vikings will return home and have a quick turnaround, hosting Detroit at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17.
