Cleveland State wins Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship

March 16, 2008

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GREEN BAY, Wis. - Cleveland State defeated Wright State 70-56 to win its first-ever Horizon League Women's Basketball Championship on Sunday. With the win, the Vikings earned the League's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

Sophomore guard Kailey Klein finished the game with a team-high 29 points. Klein finished the Championship with a League record 67 points during the week-long event en route to being named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Klein, also collected 13 rebounds to record her fourth double-double of the year.

Joining Klein on the All-Tournament Team was junior guard Dominique Butler. Butler, who was named the League's Defensive Player of the Year, picked up her first double-double of the season as she scored 16 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.

As a team, Cleveland State outrebounded Wright State 35-18 and also outshot the Raiders (53.3 - 41.9). CSU also held a nine to eight advantage in steals.

Wright State freshman guard Shey Peddy led the Raiders with a game-high 31 points and was selected to the All-Tournament team. Peddy's 31-point output is her second 30-point game of the season.

Rounding out the All-Tournament Team was Cleveland State senior guard Brittany Korth and Milwaukee junior center Traci Edwards.

After connecting at a 59.6 percent clip from the field against Green Bay on Friday, Cleveland State continued its hot shooting as it made its first six shots of the game and opened up 16-10 advantage in the first four minutes of play.CSU would then push its advantage to 22-11 following a 6-1 run.

The Vikings went into the locker room with a 30-21 halftime advantage with Klein scoring half of the team's first half points (15). Cleveland State shot 52.2 percent (12-of-23) as a team in the first half, while Wright State connected at a clip of 35.0 (7-of-20). The Vikings also held a 17-8 rebounding advantage.

In the second half, Cleveland State hit its first three shots and took its largest lead of the game at 36-21. Wright State rallied to cut the lead to three points at 44-41, but the Vikings responded by scoring seven straight points to push its advantage to seven at 50-41.

Wright State made one last push as it closed the lead to two (53-51) with 5:37 to go in the game, but the Raiders would get no closer as Cleveland State finished the game on a 14-4 run to secure the victory.

Cleveland State will learn its seed in the 2008 NCAA Championship on Monday. The pairings will be announced on Monday, March 17 from 7 to 8 p.m. EST live on ESPN.

2008 Horizon League All-Tournament Team
Dominique Butler, Cleveland State
Traci Edwards, Milwaukee
Kailey Klein, Cleveland State
Brittany Korth, Cleveland State
Shey Peddy, Wright State


Tournament MVP
Kailey Klein, Cleveland State