Feb. 3, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK IN THE HORIZON LEAGUE
Wednesday, Feb. 4
UIC at Eastern Illinois, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 5
$ Cleveland State at Milwaukee, 8 p.m. ... HLN
$ Youngstown State at Green Bay, 8 p.m. ... HLN
Friday, Feb. 6
$ Detroit at Valparaiso, 8:05 p.m. ... HLN
$ Wright State at Butler, 9 p.m. ... ESPNU
Saturday, Feb. 7
$ Youngstown State at Milwaukee, 3 p.m. ... HLN
$ Cleveland State at Green Bay, 3 p.m. ... HLN
$ Loyola at UIC, 5:30 p.m. ... HLN
Sunday, Feb. 8
$ Detroit at Butler, 2 p.m. ... HLN
$ Wright State at Valparaiso, 2:35 p.m. ... HLN
$ = Horizon League game
All times are Eastern
HLN = Horizon League Network webcast (www.horizonleaguenetwork.tv)
LAST WEEK IN THE HORIZON LEAGUE
Thursday, Jan. 29
$ Cleveland State 87, Loyola 52
$ Green Bay 58, Butler 53
$ UIC 57, Youngstown State 42
$ Valparaiso 83, Milwaukee 65
Saturday, Jan. 31
$ Cleveland State 68, UIC 60
$ Green Bay 76, Valparaiso 45
$ Loyola 56, Youngstown State 42
$ Milwaukee 63, Butler 58
$ Wright State 65, Detroit 58
$ = Horizon League game
HORIZON LEAGUE TEAM NOTES
BUTLER BULLDOGS (12-8 overall, 7-2 HL)
Butler has held Horizon League opponents to just 49.5 points per game this season. The Bulldogs have kept eight of nine conference foes to below 60 points and seven to 50 or fewer.Green Bay and Milwaukee handed the Bulldogs their first two League losses last weekend. Butler had started the conference slate 7-0 for just the second time in school history.Head coach Beth Couture is just three wins shy of 100 at Butler. Her 97 wins are the third-most in school history.Butler's bench has outscored its opponents' reserves in 18 of 20 games this season. The Bulldogs have also outscored their foes by an average of 13.1 points per game in that category.
CLEVELAND STATE VIKINGS (12-9 overall, 6-3 HL)Cleveland State scored a season-high 87 points in its victory over Loyola on Thursday.The Vikings shot .532 from the field against Loyola, knocking down a season-high 33 field goals in 62 attempts. It was the fifth time this season that CSU has shot better than 50 percent from the field.Sophomore Shawnita Garland scored a career-high 23 points vs. Loyola. Garland hit 10 of her final 11 field-goal attempts, finishing 10-of-13 for the contest.Junior Kailey Klein is the first player in Cleveland State history to make at least 100 free throws in each of her first three years. She made 106 as a freshman, a school-record 211 last season and has canned 104 this season.
DETROIT TITANS (6-14 overall, 2-7 HL)Junior Brigid Mulroy led Detroit with 18 points on Saturday against Wright State.Senior Sandi Brown added 16 points vs. the Raiders, while junior Heather Hatter grabbed a personal-best eight rebounds and junior Chanica Hall recorded career highs in assists (7) and steals (4).Detroit has already matched its 2007-08 win total. The Titans, 6-14 overall, have at least 10 more games in 2008-09 to improve on last year's mark.
GREEN BAY PHOENIX (17-3 overall, 9-0 HL)In a battle of Horizon League unbeatens on Thursday, Green Bay extended its winning streak over Butler to 25 games.Green Bay ranks second in the country in scoring defense (50.8) and ninth in turnover margin (+5.85). The Phoenix also leads the Horizon League in scoring margin (+13.8), field-goal percentage (.451), three-point defense (.270) and steals per game (11.4).Green Bay has held 10 of its 20 opponents to under 50 points this season. The feat is a new school record since the program became Division I in 1987-88. The Phoenix held 13 foes under 50 points in 1977-78.The Phoenix is beating Horizon League opponents by an average of 18.2 points per outing. Green Bay's 31-point win over Valparaiso on Saturday matched its biggest win of the campaign.
LOYOLA RAMBLERS (6-13 overall, 1-8 HL)Loyola's 56-42 win over Youngstown State on Saturday snapped a 10-game losing streak. The slide started after the Ramblers began the year 5-3.Loyola put four players in double figures against the Penguins. The quartet combined for 45 of the team's 56 points.After missing Thursday night's game at Cleveland State, junior Keisha Collins posted game-high totals of 13 points and eight assists in the win over Youngstown State.
MILWAUKEE PANTHERS (9-11 overall, 4-5 HL)Senior Traci Edwards made her school record-tying 108th career start on Saturday vs. Butler. She also broke the Milwaukee standard for career minutes, playing 38 and pushing her career total to 3,534.On Saturday, the Panthers had two players with double-doubles for just the second time this season -- Edwards (16 points/12 rebounds) and sophomore Lindsay Laur (11 points/10 rebounds).
UIC FLAMES (11-8 overall, 5-4 HL)Head coach Lisa Ryckbosch is just one win shy of 100 for her career.Junior Jessie Miller moved into fourth place in the UIC career record book for three-pointers made with her six trifectas on Thursday at Youngstown State. She now owns 132 made threes in her career.UIC will be looking for the season sweep of Loyola on Saturday. The Flames defeated the Ramblers, 53-47, on Jan. 10.
VALPARAISO CRUSADERS (10-9 overall, 5-4 HL)Valparaiso recorded a season-high 18 steals on Thursday against Milwaukee. Seniors Aimee Litka and Launa Hochstetler recorded five each in the contest.Aimee Litka and fellow senior Agnieszka Kulaga are now tied for 20th all-time at Valparaiso with 836 career points.Aimee Litka has 150 career three-pointers, one shy of moving into the top five all-time at the school.The Crusaders will enjoy six of their next eight games at the Athletics-Recreation Center.
WRIGHT STATE RAIDERS (10-10 overall, 6-3 HL)Wright State finished the first round of Horizon League play tied for third place at 6-3.Freshman Molly Fox led all scorers with a season-high 19 points off the bench on Saturday against Detroit. She drained 8-of-9 from the field and added nine rebounds.Sophomore LaShawna Thomas posted 16 points and 11 rebounds vs. the Titans. She, freshman Maria Bennett and sophomore Shey Peddy combined for 41 points off the bench, while the Detroit reserves had just five.LaShawna Thomas has reached the 10-point plateau in all nine Horizon League games to date.
YOUNGSTOWN STATE PENGUINS (2-18 overall, 0-9 HL)Senior Kelsey Gurganus has led Youngstown State in scoring in three of the last five affairs. She had not been the team's top scorer in any of the first 15 tilts. All four of her double-digit efforts have come at home.Head coach Cindy Martin has used a different starting line-up in each of the past five contests, but the Penguins have failed to picked up a win during that stretch.After having its two best three-point shooting games on the road two weeks ago, YSU had just three treys in two games last weekend.