Vikings Battle Back to Defeat UIC

Horizon League Women’s Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 11)
Cleveland State 75, UIC 69

Cleveland State 75, UIC 69
Cleveland State overcame a 10-point second half deficit to defeat UIC, 75-69, on Monday night at the Wolstein Center.

The Vikings trailed by 10 points at two different points at the beginning of the second half and still trailed by six, 49-43, with a little more than 10 minutes remaining when the Vikings went on an 8-0 run to take a 51-49 lead with 8:02 remaining. The run was capped by a Shalonda Winton three-pointer to give CSU its first lead in the game since the 15:39 mark of the first half.

Cleveland State would extend its lead to 56-51, but the Flames answered with a 10-2 run to take a 61-58 lead with under four minutes remaining. The Vikings would comeback though and Haley Schmitt’s jumper in transition gave CSU a 62-61 lead and they would never trail again as CSU went on a 13-1 run to put the game away.

Winton led the Vikings with 32 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. She also had nine rebounds, five blocks, four steals and three assists in the contest. Winton eclipsed the 1,000 rebound mark in the game to become the 2^nd Viking all-time to reach the 1,000 rebound  milestone.

Cori Coleman had 14 points and Kiersten Green finished with 13 as Cleveland State’s starters scored 65 of the Vikings 75 points.

Rachel Story led the Flames with 20 points and Katie Hannemann finished with 18 on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. Hannemann also had a game-high 11 rebounds to record her third double-double of the season.

UIC took control of the first half going on a 24-10 run to turn to an 8-7 deficit into a 31-18 lead. The Vikings would end the half on a mini 8-2 run to cut the Flames led to seven, 33-26, at the break.