Contact: Renee Adam
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Behind a strong second half, the Cleveland State women's basketball team opened the 2012-13 regular season with a victory Friday evening, defeating South Dakota, 60-46. Friday's victory marks the fourth straight year that the Vikings have opened the season with a win.
The Vikings were led by Shalonda Winton who tallied the 28th double-double of the her career, with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Honesty King also tallied double-digit points for CSU Friday, posting 18 points, including a 4-for-6 performance from behind the arc. Kaila Montgomery added a career-high seven points off the bench, while Cori Coleman also posted seven and Imani Gordon added six.
Cleveland State headed into the halftime break with the score tied at 21-21, and continued to battle throughout the first seven minutes of the second half until the Vikings gained a five-point lead at the 36-31 mark. CSU gained this advantage with a pair of three-pointers, the first from Coleman and the second from King.
The Vikings extended their lead to seven points (38-31) two minutes later on a Montgomery jumper, and held at least a five-point lead for the rest of the contest. CSU gained a double-digit lead for the first time at the 9:14 mark following King's fourth three-pointer of the evening (43-33).
Over the final 2:38 CSU outscored South Dakota 12-7, including 10 points off of free throws. Winton was responsible for six of CSU's final 12 points, going 4-for-4 from the line along with a two-point jumper.
As a team, Cleveland State was 18-for-20 from the free throw line (.900), with free throws from Winton (10-11), King (4-4), Coleman (2-3) and Gordon (2-2). For the game the Vikings shot .409 from the floor (18-for-44), including a .500 field goal percentage during the second half (10-for-20).
The Vikings will now begin a four-game road swing, with the first game coming at Ohio University on Tuesday, November 13. Tuesday's contest will begin at 7:00 p.m.
