Feb. 14, 2004

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - UW-Milwaukee's Maria Viall banked in a 10-foot hook shot from the right baseline with one-tenth of a second remaining to propel the Panthers to a 52-51 victory over Cleveland State on Saturday afternoon. With the win, UWM (13-10), which has won 35 of its last 37 home conference games, pulled into a second-place tie with the Vikings (12-11) at 9-3 in the Horizon League -- one game behind UW-Green Bay.

After trailing 23-18 at the half, CSU found itself up 36-34 on a Keena Rembert (Kentwood, Mich./Kentwood) jumper at the 9:16 mark. However, the Panthers responded with a 7-0 run over the next 1:32 to go up by five.

The teams traded baskets for the next three minutes before the Vikings began cutting into the lead. Trailing 48-43 with 3:45 remaining, Rembert sandwiched a free throw and a basket around a Shannon Sword (Miamisburg, Ohio/Miamisburg) three-point play to put CSU up 49-48 with 2:14 left.

After another Viking free throw, UWM's Anne Witte knotted the score at 50-50 with 44 seconds remaining. CSU missed its first attempt to regain the lead, but corralled the offensive rebound. With 19 ticks left, it appeared that Ashley Schrock (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon) was fouled while making a 16-foot jumper, but the officials called the foul before the shot, setting up a one-and-one situation. Schrock made the first and missed the second, and the Panthers opted not to call a timeout leading up the game's final play.

"We wanted to move Viall off the block, because we knew Milwaukee would go to her," CSU head coach Kate Peterson said about the game-winning basket. "She hit a tough shot over Karyn [Woloszynek], who had defended her well all night.

"I felt like we were able to increase the tempo of the game in the second half, which made our offense more effective. We put ourselves in a position to win against a very good team on the road, but the last shot just didn't go our way."

Schrock finished with a game-high 20 points and eight rebounds, while Sword tallied 13 points. Woloszynek (Garfield Heights, Ohio/Garfield) added six points, seven rebounds, two blocks and three steals.

Viall paced UWM with 17 points and nine rebounds as the Panthers defeated the Vikings for the fifth straight time in the Klotsche Center.

Cleveland State is in action again when the Vikings host league-leading UW-Green Bay (17-6, 10-2 HL) on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the Convocation Center.