Feb. 9, 2002

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Vikings Look To Start New Winning Streak Today

Cleveland State and Detroit are meeting this afternoon for the 23rd time. Unfortunately for the Vikings, the Titans have won 20 of the previous contests. CSU did win last year at home, 91-77, but earlier this season in Detroit, the Titans defeated the Vikings, 94-67 - their worst setback in conference play this year. Detroit jumped out to a 17-7 lead just six minutes into the contest and kept the margin in double-digits for the rest of the game. The Titans out-shot the Vikings 54-33 percent and held a 45-37 rebound margin. Sophomore forward Ashley Schrock tallied 17 points to lead CSU, while sophomore forward Shannon Sword added 16 points. The Vikings had no answer for Detroit's Randee Henry. The sophomore center posted a career-high 33 points to lead all scorers. Henry finished 11-of-19 from the field and 11-of-12 from the free throw line.

Shooting Percentage Mirrors Wins

One fact of life has been nearly set in stone for the Vikings this year: shoot over 40% and win, less than 40% and lose. CSU is 10-2 this season when topping the 40% mark, only dropping games at Niagara (47.4%) and at UW-Milwaukee (41.9%). On the flip side, the Vikings have lost all 10 games in which they have hit less than 40% of their shots. Over its last five games, CSU has shot .453 as a team, led by sophomore center Karyn Woloszynek's .714 (20-28).

Triple Threat

Last year the Vikings continued their torrid pace from behind the three-point arc during Duffy Burns' tenure, knocking down 215 bombs to finish 4th in the nation with 7.7 per game (Iowa State led at 9.1 pg), while pacing the conference for the sixth consecutive year. Overall, CSU has made a three-pointer in 266 straight contests - ranking behind only Louisville's current 313 game run in NCAA annals. The last time the Vikings failed to drain at least one triple in a game was in a 78-55 loss at Cincinnati on December 17, 1992. CSU is currently second in the Horizon League with 6.59 triples per game.

80's Enough

In the seven seasons since Duffy Burns arrived in Cleveland, the Vikings have hit his self-proclaimed "magic number" of 80 points 53 times in 190 games (28%). Of those 53 contests, CSU has been victorious on 49 occasions (92%). All four losses were to conference opponents: UW-Milwaukee (2/17/96), Butler (2/24/96) and Detroit (1/30/97 & 2/5/00). The Vikings were 9-0 last season when topping 80 points and are 7-0 this year.

Alumni Return For Friendly Battle

Prior to this afternoon's contest, Cleveland State held its annual Alumni Game. Among those slated to take part in today's activities were: Juli Grant, LeAnna Hicks, Janae Halter-Ryder, Sally Steigerwald, Amy Dirksen, Venus Harmeyer, Mahogany Green, Julie Peters-Narvel, Kim Walden, Chee-Chee Crenshaw, Lisa Kipp-Stopp, Deb Roof and Audra Cook-Bolender.