GAME #7
Cleveland State at Milwaukee
Friday, January 15 | 12:00 pm EST | Milwaukee, Wis.
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GAME #8
Cleveland State at Milwaukee
Saturday, January 16 | 12:00 pm EST | Milwaukee, Wis.
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PDF CLEVELAND STATE GAME NOTES

SETTING THE SCENE
The Cleveland State women's basketball team will return to action this weekend, traveling to Milwaukee for a two-game series on Friday, January 15 and Saturday, January 16. Entering the weekend the Vikings stand at 2-4 on the year, while Milwaukee is 11-1 overall and 8-0 in Horizon League play.

ENTERING THE WEEKEND…
The Vikings will be trying to even their #HLWBB record at 4-4 on the season…Cleveland State will be looking to win its third and fourth consecutive road games…Head coach Chris Kielsmeier owns 449 career wins, needing just one more victory to reach the 450-win milestone.

THE CLEVELAND STATE/MILWAUKEE SERIES
This weekend's games will be the 59th and 60th meetings between the two teams in program history, with Milwaukee owning a 34-24 advantage in the all-time series. Last season, the two teams split their matchups, with the home teams winning on their respective courts. Cleveland State's 58-49 victory on January 24 marked the first win for the Vikings over the last 11 games against the Panthers.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Milwaukee enters the weekend with an 11-1 overall record on the year, including a perfect 8-0 mark in Horizon League play…In this week's College Insider Mid-Major poll, the Panthers rank 10th as one of two league team's to appear in the top-25…As one of three teams to be undefeated in #HLWBB play, the Panthers sit at the top of the league standings and own an eight-game winstreak…Milwaukee currently leads the league in scoring defense (49.1) and free throw percentage (.828), while the Panthers rank second in field goal percentage (.343)…Individually, Megan Walsted ranks 10th among league players averaging 12.1 points per game and second with 9.3 rebounds per game.

THE VIKINGS
Cleveland State returns eight letterwinners from last season's squad, including the duo of Mariah White and Nadia Dumas who appeared in the starting lineup in all but one game for the Vikings last year. This duo is joined by Isabelle Gradwell and Taylah Levy who played significant time for the Vikings last year, along with Isabella Geraci, Aminata Ly and Julia Hintz. This experienced group will be joined by five true freshmen and two junior transfers to give head coach Chris Kielsmeier a well-rounded roster for the season.

…HEAD COACH CHRIS KIELSMEIER
The Vikings will be under the direction of third-year head coach Chris Kielsmeier during the 2020-21 campaign. Kielsmeier enters the weekend with 449 career victories, needing just one more win to reach the 450-win milestone. Kielsmeier, who has recorded 33 of his wins with the Vikings - including a 21-win campaign last year - would become the second active #HLWBB coach with 450 career victories.

WHITE CLOSING IN ON 1,000 CAREER POINTS
Entering this weekend's series at Milwaukee, senior Mariah White is just six points shy of reaching the 1,000-point milestone for her career. White, who leads the Vikings averaging 21.0 points per game this season, has recorded 14+ points in all five games she has played in this year, including a career-high 36-point effort against Purdue Fort Wayne in the series opener. White's 36-point performance is tied for the fifth highest single-game total at Cleveland State, while it's the highest single-game total among #HLWBB players this season.

…WHITE IN THE #HLWBB STANDINGS
After the first three weekends of #HLWBB play, Mariah White leads the Horizon League in scoring and steals, averaging 21.0 points and 2.8 steals per game. White also ranks in the top-45 nationally in both categories, ranking 24th among Division I scoring leaders and 41st with her 2.8 steals per game. Through her first five games of the 2020-21 season, White has posted 14+ points and two or more steals in every game.

DUMAS ON THE BOARDS
Last time out, redshirt-junior Nadia Dumas grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds against Wright State, marking the second double-digit rebounding game of her career. Dumas, who enters the weekend averaging 7.3 boards per game, leads the Vikings and ranks 10th among league players in the category. 

…DUMAS ON THE OFFENSIVE END
Offensively, Nadia Dumas has been Cleveland State's second leading scorer so far this season, averaging 11.5 points per game. Dumas, who averaged just 3.8 points per game last year, opened her 2020-21 campaign with back-to-back 15-point games at Purdue Fort Wayne, marking a career-high. Last weekend, Dumas posted eight points in both games against Wright State, and is shooting 66-percent from the floor (16-for-24) on the year.

LEO FROM BEHIND-THE-ARC
Through the first six games freshman Destiny Leo has been Cleveland State's top three-pointer shooter, converting 11 shots from behind-the-arc to rank fifth in the #HLWBB standings averaging 1.8 three-pointers per game. Leo, who has converted at least one three-pointer in five of the six games this year, posted a season-high five three-pointers in the second game of the series at Purdue Fort Wayne marking a season-high among league freshmen.

VIKINGS WITH THE TAKEAWAY
After the first six games of the season the Vikings are picking up right where they left off last year, averaging 10.33 steals per game as a team. Entering the weekend, Cleveland State leads the league as one of only two #HLWBB teams to be averaging double-digit takeaways on the year. Through the first six games, the Vikings have recorded double-digit steals in three games, including a season-high 14 against Purdue Fort Wayne in game one of the weekend.

STARTING LINEUP
Through the first six games of the 2020-21 campaign the Vikings have used four different starting lineups with nine different players appearing in the starting five at least once. So far this season, Levy is the only Viking to appear in all six starting lineups, while Mariah White (5) and Nadia Dumas (4) have started every game they have played in so far this season.

2020-21 #HLWBB PLAY
This year's Horizon League schedule will have a different look to it, as the Vikings will face the same opponent in back-to-back games each weekend. Cleveland State is still scheduled to host three #HLWBB series against Green Bay, Oakland, and Purdue Fort Wayne, while the Vikings will travel to Milwaukee, Detroit Mercy and Youngstown State throughout the rest of the 2020-21 campaign.

VIKINGS ON THE DEAN'S LIST
With the 2020 Fall Semester in the books, the Vikings posted one of their best semesters in program history, finishing with a 3.50 Team GPA for the term. In addition, 10 Vikings earned a spot on the Cleveland State University Dean's List (Dana DeGraffenreid, Nadia Dumas, Isabella Geraci, Isabelle Gradwell, Meghan Kenefick, Destiny Leo, Elie Smith, Julia Hintz, Mariah White, Barbara Zieniewska), while Taylah Levy was named to the Cleveland State University President's List.

UP NEXT
Cleveland State will return home for a four-game stretch, hosting Green Bay on Friday, January 22 and Saturday, January 23 followed up by hosting Oakland on Friday, January 29 and Saturday, January 30.