Horizon League Women's Basketball Release #4
Nov. 26, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Butler junior center Lade Akande was selected as the Horizon League Women's Basketball Player of the Week after she helped Butler claim the 2007 Miami (Fla.) Thanksgiving Tournament.
Horizon League Player of the Week
Lade Akande, Butler
Jr. * C * Robinson, Ill.
Butler center Lade Akande collected her third career Player of the Week award and her second honor this season. This past weekend, Akande guided the Bulldogs to a 2-0 record at the Miami (Fla.) Thanksgiving Tournament and was selected as the tournament Most Valuable Player. The 6-foot-1-inch junior began the week by scoring 15 points and pulling down a game-high eight rebounds in a 63-52 win over Monmouth on Friday. In addition, the Illinois native had four blocks against the Hawks. Akande finished the week by posting game highs of 19 points and nine rebounds in a 62-59 win against Miami (Fla.) on Sunday. For the week, the junior averaged 17 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
Other Top Performances for the Week Ending November 25
Kailey Klein, Cleveland State
So. * G * Cherry, Ill.
Klein helped CSU to a third-place finish in the 2007 Carrs/Great Alaska Shootout as she averaged 25.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals en route to earning a spot on the all-tournament team. The sophomore opened the week by matching a career-high 33 points in a 80-72 defeat in overtime against Alaska Anchorage on Tuesday. Klein finished the week with 18 points in a 82-61 win against Bradley on Wednesday.
Elyse Van Bogaert, Loyola
So. * F * Elburn, Ill.
Van Bogaert averaged 15 points and six rebounds per game in a 0-2 week. The sophomore forward had 14 points and seven rebounds in 55-53 loss to Chicago State Tuesday. The Illinois native than followed that performance with 16 points, five rebounds and a career-high three blocks during a 63-47 loss at Northwestern on Sunday.
Traci Edwards, Milwaukee
Jr. * C * Menasha, Wis.
Edwards scored a game-high 22 points and pulled down eight rebounds in a 56-55 loss against Dayton on Nov. 19. The Panther junior led the team in scoring for the 22nd straight game.
Brianan Hinkle , UIC
So. * G * Bexley, Ohio
In two games this past week, Hinkle averaged 11.5 points and three rebounds per game as she helped the Flames to two wins including their third straight victory at home. The Ohio native opened the week by scoring 14 points in a 62-58 triumph over Eastern Illinois on Tuesday. She then totaled nine points and four rebounds during a 50-42 win against Northern Illinois on Sunday.
Sheylani Peddy, Wright State
Fr. * G * Boston, Mass.
Peddy averaged 21 points per game in a 1-2 week. The Raider freshman began the week by scoring 12 points in a 63-54 loss at Miami (Ohio), she then followed that performance with 20 points and five rebounds during a 80-76 setback against Cal Poly. Peddy finished the week with a career-high 31 points against North Dakota State.
Agnieszka Kulaga, Valparaiso
Jr. * G * Tarnow, Poland
Kulaga averaged 15.5 points four rebounds and 3.5 assists per game as she was selected to the all-tournament team at the FGCU Thanksgiving Classic. The junior guard led the Crusaders to a 1-1 week. In Crusader's 75-67 win against Central Connecticut State on Saturday, Kulaga had a career-high 21 points to lead Valpo.
Ashley Pendleton, Youngstown State
Jr. * F * Farrell, Pa.
Pendleton led the Penguins to a 1-1 week as she averaged 15.5 points and seven rebounds per game last week. The YSU junior scored a career-high 18 points in a 68-54 loss to Long Island. Against Albany, Pendleton posted her first double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds as YSU downed the Great Danes 65-52.
News From Around the League
Butler
The Bulldogs posted wins against Monmouth on Friday (63-52) and Miami (Fla.) on Saturday (62-59).
Butler's 4-1 start to the season is the team's best start since the 2004-05 season when the Bulldogs won four straight after dropping the season opener to Kentucky. Butler has not begun a year at 5-1 since the 1998-99 season.
With 70 points this season, junior center Lade Akande sits just 52 points shy of becoming the 19th player in school history with 1,000 in her career. She is also on pace to become the first Butler player to reach the mark before her senior season since Jennifer Marlow in 1998-99.
The Bulldogs have received a significant output from their posts, as Akande and sophomore forward Susan Lester rank 1-2 in points per game with 14.0 and 11.4 per game, respectively. The tandem is also tops in rebounding, with Lester pulling in a team-best 5.8 per game while Akande is averaging 5.2.
Butler returns to action on Saturday as it takes on Indiana State at 2:00 p.m. The game will be held in Valparaiso, Ind. as part of the State Farm Hoosier Classic.
Cleveland State
Last week the Vikings dropped a 80-72 decision in overtime to Alaska Anchorage on Tuesday. On Wednesday, CSU responded with a 82-61 victory against Bradley.
Freshman guard Shawnita Garland set career-high marks in points (19), rebounds (8), assists (5) and steals (5) against Bradley.
In two wins this season, CSU is shooting 52 percent (56-108) from the field, but just .345 (38-110) in two losses.
CSU's 82 points against Bradley were the most by a Viking team since scoring 83 in last season's second game against Niagara.
CSU's overtime loss at Alaska Anchorage on Tuesday was the Vikings fourth straight overtime loss. CSU's last overtime win was March 10, 2000, a 72-68 double overtime win over Wright State in the MCC Tournament.
The Vikings return to action against Ohio on Monday at 7:00 p.m. CSU concludes the week with a match up on Saturday against Miami (Ohio) at 2:00 p.m.
Detroit
The Titans fell 66-50 at Buffalo in their only game of the week.
Against Buffalo, junior guard Shawanna Stubblefield paced the Titans with 10 points and five rebounds. Freshman guard Gabi Hungerford also collected a team-best three steals against the Bulls, while freshman guard Kealy McNally tallied two blocks to lead the Titans in that category.
UDM saw a change in its starting lineup as both senior center Katy Dunlop and junior forward Dominica Whittaker started for the first time this season.
Detroit resumes play on Friday when it faces off against Northern Iowa at 8:00 p.m. The Titans will wrap up play on Sunday when they take on Iowa at 2:00 p.m.
Green Bay
The Phoenix return to action on Wednesday as it will meet Northern Illinois at 8:00 p.m. Green Bay's game with NIU will be just its fourth game of the season.
The Phoenix have not played since a Nov. 17 meeting with Missouri State. In that game, Green Bay overcame an early double-figure deficit against Missouri State to post a 78-68 win on the road. Junior guard Rachel Porath led the way with a career-high 20 points.
Dating back to Jan. 1, 2002, Green Bay is 147-28 for an .840 winning percentage.
Green Bay will close out the week with a match up against in-state rival Marquette on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.
Loyola
The Ramblers went 0-2 this past week with losses to Chicago State (55-53) on Tuesday and Northwestern (63-47) on Sunday.
Sophomore guard Maggie McCloskey scored a game-high 17 points against Northwestern.
Loyola will look to improve on is production from its bench. The Rambler bench has scored just 14 points in two games last week including just two (on a Cierra Thurman bucket) on Sunday against Northwestern.
After playing four of its first five games in the immediate area (three home games and a trip to Northwestern), the Ramblers hit the road as they travel to Illinois State on Thursday (8:05 p.m.) and Eastern Illinois (8:00 p.m.) on Saturday.
Milwaukee
The Panthers fell 56-55 in the closing seconds to Dayton. UWM's match up against the Flyers was its only game last week.
Junior center Traci Edwards has led Milwaukee in scoring in the team's last 22 games, which stands as a school record.
Edwards also extended her school-record streak of double-digit scoring games to 26.
The one-point loss against Dayton was Milwaukee's first since a 61-60 setback against Green Bay back on Jan. 18, 2003. Since then, the Panthers have won four-straight one-point games, including a 73-72 win over Loyola last season.
Milwaukee will Miami (Fla.) on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. The Panthers finish out the week on Saturday with 12:00 p.m. match up against Central Connecticut State.
UIC
UIC picked up its third victory of the season with two straight home wins over Eastern Illinois and Northern Illinois last week. The Flames totaled 10 more steals (22-12) and recorded a higher field goal percentage than their opponents in two games.
The Flames were paced by sophomore guard Jessie Miller with 12.5 points per game. In addition, Miller also totaled a team-best 10 assists. Sophomore center Nikki Grobbecker pulled down a team-best 12.5 boards per game. Sophomore guard Briana Hinkle led UIC with a six steals and ranked second on the team with 23 points.
UIC faces nationally-ranked DePaul on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in Lincoln Park. The Flames will then meet up with Illinois on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.
Valparaiso
The Crusaders went 1-1 this past week. Valpo began the week with a 66-64 loss against Eastern Kentucky 66-64 on Friday and then finished the week with a 75-67 win over Central Connecticut on Saturday.
Valpo is 7-0 against Central Connecticut State all-time after the win against the Crusaders' former Mid-Con foe from the mid-90s.
Junior forward Sarah Ott had her second straight double-double against EKU with 14 points and 12 rebounds, the latter a career high for boards
In addition, junior forward Aimee Litka had career highs with 16 points and 8 rebounds against EKU.
Against CCSU, freshman forward Ashley Varner had a career high eight rebounds. Valpo made 27-of-30 free throws against CCSU.
Valpo hosts the State Farm Hoosier Classic on Saturday to open the home slate against Ball State at 4:05 p.m.
Wright State
The Raiders went 1-2 last week with a win over 87-80 win over North Dakota State on Sunday.
Freshman guard Sheylani Peddy averaged 21 points per game in three contests last week.
Peddy's 31 points against North Dakota State Sunday is the most by a Raider player since Tiffany Webb had 31 at Milwaukee on February 27, 2003. Peddy and senior foward Whitney Lewis were both named to the Cal Poly Holiday Beach Classic All-Tournament Team.
After scoring 183 points in their first four games, the Raiders exploded for 143 points in two games at the Cal Poly Holiday Beach Classic, including 87 in the win over North Dakota State. The 87 points are the most for Wright State since scoring 97 against Ohio on November 28, 2004.
After playing six games over 17 days to start the season, Wright State will play just five games over the next 38 days, including one this week as the Raiders host Canisius on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
Youngstown State
The Penguins went 1-1 last week with a 54-52 win over Albany.
Senior forward Jessica Schloemp extended her consecutive games streak to 77.
Senior Lauren Branson dished out six assists and now has 341 career assists. She needs 36 more to move into sixth place on the YSU all-time list and 59 more to become the sixth player in school history to tally 400 assists in a career.
Senior Heather Karner has 62 career three-pointers in just 32 career games played at YSU.
YSU returns to action against Toledo on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. The Penguins will close out the week on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. against Saint Francis (Pa.)
