Horizon League Women's Basketball Release #18
March 3, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Butler sophomore forward Susan Lester was tabbed Horizon League women's basketball Player of the Week for the first time this season and the third time in her career. Lester received the weekly honor after she helped the Bulldogs to a pair of road wins last week averaging 20.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
Horizon League Player of the Week
Susan Lester, Butler
So. * F * Anderson, Ind.
Butler forward Susan Lester collects her third Player of the Week Awards after she led the Bulldogs to a pair of victories over Youngstown State and Cleveland State, averaging a team-best 20.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per contest. Lester began the week against Youngstown State by going 4-for-7 from the field with three three-pointers for 11 points. She also added four rebounds in helping Butler edge out the Penguins, 61-60. She followed that performance with a career-high 29 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the field and a career-best five treys against Cleveland State. Lester also tied her season-best with 13 rebounds, giving her a team-leading eight double-doubles on the year and 17 in her two-year career.
Other Top Performances for the Week Ending March 1
Kailey Klein, Cleveland State
So. * G * Cherry, Ill.
Klein averaged 19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game as the Vikings dropped a pair of games over the weekend. She had a game-high 25 points, on 10-of-17 shooting from the field, and added seven rebounds and two steals in Thursday's loss to Valparaiso. She also hit 4-of-5 free throws. In Saturday's loss to Butler, Klein amassed 14 points and four rebounds, going 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
Zemora Davis, Detroit
Jr. * G * Detroit, Mich.
Davis averaged a team-best 11.5 points per game last week as she helped lead the Titans to two victories for their first two-game win streak of the season. Davis poured in a game-high 15 points against UIC, which included a 6-of-11 showing from the field. Davis shot a combined 5-of-6 from the line, which included the game-winning free throw against Loyola. Davis finished with eight points against the Ramblers.
Rachel Porath, Green Bay
Jr. * G * Luxemburg, Wis.
Porath lifted Green Bay from a five-point deficit to a 1-point win with two three-pointers in eight seconds as Green Bay rallied to a 66-65 win over Milwaukee on Saturday. Porath finished with a team-high 14 points while adding a career-best six steals.
Keisha Collins, Loyola
So. * G * Chicago, Ill.
Collins averaged 11.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in two games last week. Collins opened the week with 15 points at Wright State, as the Ramblers took the Raiders down to the final minute before falling short. Collins then finished with seven points, six boards and five assists in Saturday's two-point loss at Detroit.
Traci Edwards, Milwaukee
Jr. * C * Menasha, Wis.
In her only game of the week, Edwards scored a game-high 27 points on the road against Green Bay. The Panther junior also pulled down nine rebounds and shot 61.5 percent from the field.
Jessie Miller, UIC
So. * G * Burnsville, Minn.
Miller averaged a team-high 15 points and nine rebounds in two Horizon League contests last week. Miller totaled a team-best five steals and five assists. Miller posted her first career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds versus Detroit. She was 2-for-5 from three-point land with two assists and one steal. The sophomore guard then scored 16 points and had four steals against Wright State.
Agnieszka Kulaga, Valparaiso
Jr. * G * Tarnow, Poland
Kulaga led Valpo with 16 points and four assists along with two steals in the win against Cleveland State. She was 6-of-11 from the floor, including 2-of-4 from three-point range. She then added a team-high 14 points and had five rebounds shooting 7-10 from the floor in the victory at Youngstown State.
LaShawna Thomas, Wright State
Fr. * G * Columbus, Ohio
Thomas helped the Raiders to a pair of wins this past week as she averaged 17.0 points per game. The Raider guard opened the week with a career-high 24 points against Loyola. She then followed that performance with 10 points, six assists and two steals against UIC.
Heather Karner, Youngstown State
Jr. * G * St. Louis, Mo.
Karner averaged 17 points per game while shooting 65 percent from the field and 67 percent from behind the three-point line. Karner scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and tied a career-high with five three-pointers in a 70-59 loss to Valparaiso. Against Butler on Thursday, Karner scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor.
News From Around the League
Butler
The Bulldogs (19-9 overall, 9-8 Horizon League) captured a pair wins this past week defeating Youngstown State (61-60) on Thursday and Cleveland State (77-55) on Saturday.
The Bulldogs have assured themselves at least a No. 6 seed in the upcoming Horizon League championship.
Butler's 19 wins on the season are the most during head coach Beth Couture's tenure and are the most for the program since the 1997-98 team finished at 25-6.
In its 19 wins this season, Butler has allowed opponents just 57.3 points per game at 38.2 percent shooting from the field. The nine losses, meanwhile, have the Bulldogs' foes have scoring 70.6 points at 51.7 percent shooting.
Butler found its shooting touch against Cleveland State on March 1, shooting a season-best 53.8 percent from the field (28-for-52) while tying its season-high with 10 three-pointers. The Bulldogs 22-point margin of victory was also the highest since defeating Oakland City by 31 (77-46) on Dec. 3.
Butler welcomes Valparaiso to Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday for its final game of the year.
Cleveland State
The Vikings (15-12 overall, 9-7 Horizon League) fell to Valparaiso (66-52) on Thursday and Butler (77-55) on Saturday.
Sophomore guard Kailey Klein scored 25 points on Thursday against Valparaiso, which marked the 19th time in her career she has reached the 20-point mark.
This season Klein has become the 10th player in program history to reach 500 points in a season.
Junior guard Dominique Butler had a season-high seven steals on Thursday and added three more on Saturday to raise her career total to 202. She is the eighth player in school-history to record 200 steals.
The Vikings enter the week with a school-record tying nine League victories. This year's team is tied with the 2003-04 team for most League wins in a season. In addition, CSU's 15 triumphs this season are tied for the fourth-most in a season in program history.
CSU heads to Chicago this week to face UIC on Thursday and Loyola.
Detroit
The Titans (6-21 overall, 3-13 Horizon League) won their final two home games of the season as they beat UIC 55-51 on Thursday and Loyola 47-45 on Saturday.
Detroit notched its first two-game win streak of the season.
Junior guard Zemora Davis was at the line for a one-and-one situation with 1.7 seconds remaining and netted both to help the Titans edge the Ramblers.
Davis averaged a team-best 11.5 points per game on the week, while both sophomore forward Heather Hatter and senior guard Keashawn Bond grabbed 12 total rebounds to lead the Titans with an average of 6.0 boards per game.
Davis poured in a game-high 15 points against UIC after shooting 6-of-11 from the field.
Hatter grabbed eight rebounds versus the Flames to tie her career-high
As a team, the Titans set a season-low in turnovers on Thursday with eight and also tallied a season-high eight blocks against the Flames
Against Loyola, every player scored at least one point, with junior guard Sandi Brown leading the way with nine points.
The Titans close out their regular season this weekend in Wisconsin, with a matchup at Milwaukee on Thursday. UDM closes out the week against Green Bay.
Green Bay
The Phoenix (23-4 overall, 15-1 Horizon League) defeated Milwaukee in its only game of the week.
For the second straight outing, Green Bay needed only one more point than its opponent, as the Phoenix rattled off a 10-2 run over the final 2:03 of the game to defeat instate rival Milwaukee in front of 3,253 fans at the Kress Center.
Junior guard Rachel Porath drained back-to-back three-pointers just eight seconds apart to lift Green Bay from a five-point deficit to a one-point lead with 1:03 to go. From there, Green Bay put up a pair of defensive stops to secure its 10th straight victory and 11th consecutive home win.
Green Bay had 12 steals against Milwaukee six of which came from Porath, who tied a career high.
This week, the Phoenix closes out its 2007-08 home slate against Wright State on Thursday and Detroit on Saturday.
Loyola
The Ramblers (6-21 overall, 4-12 Horizon League) went 0-2 this past week losing to Wright State (64-57) on Thursday and Detroit (47-45) on Saturday.
The Ramblers out scored the Raiders in the first half 27-26 despite shooting 35 percent in the first half. In the second half, LU shot at a 54.2 clip, but was out scored in the second half 38-30 en route to the loss.
LU sophomore guard Keisha Collins led the Ramblers with 15 points. In addition, junior forward Cierra Thurman came off the bench and scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
Freshman forward Brittany Boeke also reached double figures as she scored 10 points.
On Saturday against Detroit, Loyola held Detroit to just 25.8 percent shooting from the field, but the Titans forced the Ramblers into 22 turnovers.
Sophomore gaurds Maggie McCloskey and Jessica Hylton each scored 11 points apiece against Detroit to lead LU.
This week, Loyola welcomes Youngstown State on Thursday and Cleveland State on Saturday.
Milwaukee
The Panthers (14-13 overall, 9-7 Horizon League) fell 66-65 to Green Bay in their only game of the week.
Eight of the Panthers' 13 losses this season have been by three points or less.
Junior center Traci Edwards scored a game high 27 points broke the school and League records for free throws made in a season with nine at Green Bay.
She finished 9-for-9 from the charity stripe to push her season total to 180. That surpassed her school record of 175 and the League mark of 179.
Edwards also posted her 40th career 20-point game Saturday, just one off the school record for 20-point games in a career.
Against the Phoenix, UWM shot 42.1 percent as a team and outrebounded Green Bay 17-16.
Milwaukee concludes its 2007-08 home slate with Detroit on Thursday and Wright State on Saturday.
UIC
The Flames (9-18 overall, 5-11 Horizon League) went 0-2 last week as they fell 55-51 to Detroit on Thursday and 56-48 to Wright State on Saturday.
UIC outrebounded the Titans 19-13, but struggled from the field shooting just 28.4 percent.
Sophomore guard Jessie Miller picked up her first career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds versus Detroit.
Against Wright State, Miller led the way for the Flames as she tallied a game-high 16 points on 8-of-19 shooting. Miller was the only Flame to reach double figures.
As a team, UIC outrebounded Wright State 18-12. In addition, the Flames forced the Raiders into 23 turnovers.
UIC returns to action this week as it closes out its 2007-08 home schedule. The Flames welcome Cleveland State on Thursday and Youngstown State on Saturday.
Valparaiso
The Crusaders (14-14 overall, 9-8 Horizon League) collected a pair wins last week as they defeated Cleveland State (66-52) on Thursday and Youngstown State (66-52) on Saturday.
Valpo won back-to-back road games for the first time this season. The Crusaders also outrebounded both opponents. Prior to this weekend, Valpo has only outrebounded two teams all season.
Against Cleveland State, Valpo held the Vikings to just 32.8 percent shooting for the game, including 26.5 percent in the first half.
In addition, Valpo limited CSU to just 2-of-21 shooting from three-point range.
Junior guard Agnieszka Kulaga scored a team-best 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting. She also pulled down six rebounds and dished out four assists.
Junior forward Sarah Ott had a career-high four blocks against CSU after having none all season.
Two days later against Youngstown State, the Crusaders held the Penguins to just a 29.2 clip from the floor in the second half.
Kulaga paced the Crusaders in scoring for the second straight game as she totaled 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Valparaiso travels to Butler on Saturday for its final game of the regular season.
Wright State
The Raiders (14-13 overall, 11-5 Horizon League) won their final two home games of the regular season last week as they beat Loyola (64-57) on Thursday and UIC (56-48) on Saturday.
Wright State trailed by one at the half, but scored the first four points of the second half to take the lead for good against Loyola.
Freshman guard LaShawna Thomas paced all scorers with a career-high 24 points, 14 of those coming in the first half, as she hit 11-of-13 shots on the night. Fellow freshman guard Shey Peddy added 21 points, 17 of which came after halftime.
Against UIC, Wright State closed out the first half with a 15-0 run to go up 11 at the break, but had to hold off a Flame comeback attempt in the second half before winning 56-48.
Peddy led the Raiders with a near double-double of 13 points and nine rebounds. She also added five steals, while Thomas added 10 points along with six assists. Senior Sierra Crayton also nearly had a double-double as she had 10 points and nine boards. Erica Richardson chipped in nine points and six rebounds off the bench.
With the two wins, the Raiders have clinched a home game in the Horizon League quarterfinals, which are set for Wednesday, March 12.
That will be the first home game for Wright State since falling to Green Bay in the 2005 title game.
Wright State closes out the regular season this week in the Badger State, taking on League-leading Green Bay on Thursday followed by Milwaukee on Saturday.
Youngstown State
The Penguins (12-15 overall, 7-9 Horizon League) dropped a pair of home games last week losing to Butler (61-60) and Valparaiso (70-59).
In both games this past week, YSU led at the half, but were out scored 67-49 in the second frame combined.
Against Butler, junior Velissa Vaughn posted 21 points against Butler. It marked the first time in her career she posted back-to-back 20 point games. Vaughn scored a career-high 28 against Cleveland State on Feb. 23.
As a team, YSU shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but struggled in the second stanza as went just 9-of-23 (39 percent).
Against Valparaiso, the Penguins were held without a field goal for the final 6:47 of the game.
Senior Jessica Schloemp extended her consecutive games played streak to 100. She has also played in 110 games during her career, which ranks tied for ninth all-time.
Senior Lauren Branson ranks fifth on the YSU all-time assist chart with 468.
YSU heads to Chicago this week with a matchup against Loyola on Thursday and UIC on Saturday.
