The Cleveland State women's basketball team will continue postseason play on Monday, March 7, traveling to Indianapolis, Ind. for a semifinal matchup against Green Bay in the 2022 KEEPS Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship. Entering Monday's game, CSU stands at 20-7 overall this year and is playing as the No. 4 seed in this year's tournament, while Green Bay is currently 20-6 on the year and will be playing as the No. 3 seed.

 

Put the Vikings into the championship game of the 2022 KEEPS Horizon League Basketball Championship…Make the Vikings 6-3 in #HLWBB Tournament play under head coach Chris Kielsmeier…Give Cleveland State its first #HLWBB Championship appearance since the 2009-10 season.

 

Monday's game will mark the 79th meeting between the two teams, with Green Bay owning a 69-8 advantage in the all-time series. Despite this advantage, the two teams have split the last four matchups, with Green Bay picking up a win in the lone meeting this season. In Horizon League tournament play (since the 2001-02 season), the Vikings own a 3-2 record against Green Bay, with one of the wins coming in last year's quarterfinals and the other two coming during the #HLWBB semifinals in both years that the Vikings won the tournament title (2007-08, 2009-10).

 

The two teams met just once during the regular season, with Green Bay picking up a 66-64 victory in the regular season finale. The first matchup between the two teams was canceled due to COVID-19 implications within the Phoenix program. 

SCOUTING THE PHOENIX
Green Bay entered #HLWBB Tournament play as the No. 3 seed, and earned a trip to the semifinals following a 57-42 victory over No. 6 Milwaukee in the quarterfinals…The Phoenix currently stand at 20-6 overall this year, and finished regular season play with a 15-4 record against league opponents…Entering Monday's semifinal game, Green Bay has won three straight games and 13 out of their last 14 outings…Green Bay's Bailey Butler was named the #HLWBB Freshman & Sixth Player of the Year, while Hailey Oskey was named All-League First Team and Butler and Maddy Schreiber were named to the All-Freshman Team.

This year's #HLWBB Tournament began with four First Round games on Tuesday, March 1 and four Quarterfinal games on Thursday, March 3 with the winners advancing to Monday's Semifinals - No. 1 IUPUI, No. 3 Green Bay, No. 4 Cleveland State, and No. 7 Oakland. The winners of Monday's semifinal matchups between IUPUI/Oakland and Green Bay/Cleveland State will advance to Tuesday's Championship game. Both the semifinals and championship game will be held at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, Ind. and will be carried on the ESPN Network.

 

Cleveland State entered the #HLWBB Tournament as the No. 4 seed after finishing the regular season with a 14-6 mark against league opponents. CSU's 14 league wins marked a program-best for league wins in a single-season, while the 14 wins also included two forfeit wins against IUPUI and Wright State.

 

Under head coach Chris Kielsmeier the Vikings now own a 5-3 record in the Horizon League tournament, and have advanced to the semifinals for the third straight season. This marks the second time that the Vikings have made three straight #HLWBB Semifinal appearances in program history, also making four straight trips to the semifinals from 2008-2011. Cleveland State has made two appearances in the championship game in program history - during the 2007-08 and 2009-10 seasons - capturing the title both times.

 

This marks the sixth time in program history that the Vikings are playing as the No. 4 seed in the Horizon League Tournament (2009-10, 2007-08, 2003-04, 2000-01, 1998-99), with both Horizon League titles coming when Cleveland State was playing as a No. 4 seed - 2009-10 & 2007-08. This also marks the ninth time in program history that the Vikings are a top-four seed, as they were a No. 3 seed during the 2014-15, 2010-11 and 2008-09 campaigns.

 

For the first time since the 2014-15 season the Vikings hosted a Quarterfinal matchup to begin #HLWBB tournament play, picking up a 59-51 victory over No. 5 seed Northern Kentucky. Cleveland State outscored the Norse 18-6 during the first quarter, and went on to hold the advantage throughout the remainder of the contest. Three Vikings finished the game with double-figure points led by Destiny Leo with 18, while Amele Ngwafang grabbed a team-best nine rebounds. The Viking defense combined for 10 steals - including five from Gabriella Smith - along with eight blocked shots. 

 

Earlier this week, sophomore Destiny Leo was named to the All-Horizon League First Team, picking up league honors for the second straight season. Leo currently leads the league averaging 18.6 points per game, and has notched 10 20-point performances so far this season, including a pair of 30-point efforts. In addition, Leo has also combined for a team-best 58 assists on the year, along with 33 steals and 15 blocked shots, ranking in the top-15 among league players in all three categories.

 

Entering Monday's semifinal, Destiny Leo currently holds program records in single-season free throw percentage and career three-point percentage. So far this season, Leo is shooting .910 from the free throw line (111-for-122), a mark that is tops in the CSU Single-Season Record Book. Leo also sits at the top of the CSU Career Record Book with a .395 clip from three-point range (108-for-273), including 57 three-pointers through the first 24 games played this year. 

 

Earlier this week, redshirt-senior Nadia Dumas was named to the All-Horizon League Third Team, picking up league honors for the first time in her career. Dumas finished regular season play averaging 12.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots per game, ranking in the top-15 among league players in all three categories. Entering Monday's semifinal, Dumas has tallied double-digit points in 15 of the last 19 games, including back-to-back 20-point performances against RMU and Oakland last month. 

 

After posting three blocked shots against Northern Kentucky in Thursday's quarterfinal matchup, Nadia Dumas moved into seventh place in the CSU Career Record Book with 85 career blocks. For the season, Dumas has 33 blocks, ranking fifth among league players averaging 1.3 blocks per game. Earlier this year, Dumas became just the ninth Viking all-time to reach 80 career blocks, and needs just five more blocks to move into a tie for sixth place on the top-10 list.

 

For just the second time in program history the Vikings went 7-0 to start the season (excluding the forfeit wins over IUPUI & Wright State), picking up wins against ETSU, St. Bonaventure, Quincy, UIC, LIU, Northern Kentucky, and Ohio Christian. Cleveland State's 7-0 start tied the program record for the best start to a season, which was first set during the 1974-75 campaign.

 

The Vikings will be under the direction of fourth-year head coach Chris Kielsmeier during the 2021-22 campaign, who owns a 63-47 record at Cleveland State and a 479-163 overall record in 21 seasons as a head coach. Kielsmeier, who joined the Vikings as the seventh head coach in program history prior to the 2018-19 season, notched his 450th career win last year in a 60-48 victory over Green Bay, becoming just the second active #HLWBB coach to reach the milestone.