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MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Cleveland State women's basketball team entered Sunday's game shooting 56 percent at the free throw line. The Vikings nailed 23-of-25, however, at the line and rallied in the second half to defeat Morehead State 80-72 at Johnson Arena.
CSU improved to 7-4 overall, while Morehead State fell to 4-8.
"You have to credit Cleveland State," Head Coach Greg Todd said. "They had not shot free throws very well all season, but they made them when they counted today. We lost both post players to foul outs, and that hurt us late. But I credit our team too. We were still in a situation to win the game, and we didn't quit."
Imani Gordon was just 3-of-17 from the floor for the visitors but hit all nine free throws and registered a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kiersten Green led the Vikings with 22 points. Cori Coleman added 15 points and seven of CSU's 45 rebounds.
Cleveland State led 42-34 at the half and scored the first bucket of the second period. Morehead State then constructed a 17-0 run, capped by a layup from sophomore forward Shay Steele, to lead 51-44 with 14:37 left in the contest. A 13-3 CSU run gave the visitors a 57-54 lead, and the Vikings only trailed once more (64-63 with 6:25 remaining).
CSU was 6-of-6 at the charity stripe in the final 1:35 to fend off an MSU rally attempt.
Steele scored a career-high 24 points in 27 minutes before fouling out with 3:12 left. Senior guard Almesha Jones registered 20 points and a team-best nine assists. Jones leads the nation in total assists.
Freshman forward Eriel McKee produced her second straight double-double and fourth of her collegiate career with 14 points and 11 rebounds. She has scored in double figures in all nine contests she's appeared in.
"We don't have a huge margin for error with low numbers," Todd added. "We really like our team, and they do play hard every night. We aren't getting much from our bench right now, but I thought there was improvement there today. Our three bench players gave us a little production and some tough minutes."
Morehead State shot 44 percent (14-of-32) in the first but cooled down to only 33 percent (13-of-40) after halftime for 38 percent efficiency overall. Cleveland State finished at 41 percent (25-of-61) for the day. Morehead State had 40 rebounds.
Morehead State takes a few days off for Christmas break and then returns to host Southern Illinois at 6 p.m. ET on Dec. 30.
