Cleveland State celebrated World Basketball Day about as appropriately as possible: by extensively playing everyone on a roster that boasts players from six different countries on four different continents in a 93-31 drubbing of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in Bayamon, PR.
The Saturday morning victory, which moved the Vikings’ record to 11-2 overall, also completed a sweep of their two matches at the Puerto Rico Clasico.
“What a way to play on World Basketball Day,” CSU head coach Chris Kielsmeier said. “To be in Puerto Rico, and to play one of the teams from here is pretty special. And there aren’t too many teams in the country that have [our] kind of representation of the world.”
The contest was decided quickly, as two buckets by Jordana Reisma (United States) from the low block, followed by runout scores after turnovers by guards Macey Fegan (United States) and Mickayla Perdue (United States) staked the Vikings to an 8-0 lead just 2:37 into the first quarter. That advantage became 18-1 before the Janes (an NCAA Division II team) converted their first field goal, then a whopping 55-12 by halftime, thanks to a 25-0 CSU run that mostly transpired over the back half of the second quarter.
It didn’t take long for Kielsmeier to sense the opportunity to get his bench some extensive game action, as he began deploying players like freshman Brenae Jones-Grant (United States) and NC State transfer Jannah Eissa (Egypt) early in the second quarter. Both players recorded the most time on the floor of their relatively young college careers, with Jones-Grant firing home six points, alongside four rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Eissa knocked down a late three-pointer, and chipped in two steals and two assists as well.
Sarah Hurley (Canada) provided one of the game’s chief highlights, as she buried three consecutive three-pointers late in the second quarter, contributing heavily to the Cleveland State’s dominating run at that juncture of the game. Grace Ellis (Australia) offered five points and five rebounds to the cause.
Filippa Goula (Greece) ran point for the Vikings for most of the clash and logged seven assists, a number that eclipsed her previous high of six – most recently accomplished in the Vikings’ opener in Puerto Rico, on Thursday against Morgan State. She was also a game-high plus-38.
“Flip just had a great week out here,” Kielsmeier said. “Her stat line probably is not going to be super impressive, but what she does for this team, how she gets us organized, how she defends, is really good.”
The Vikings’ two leading scorers in the game were post players Reisma and Mya Moore (United States), a duo that did just about anything they wanted in the paint against the severely undersized Janes. They combined for 27 points and did not miss any of their 12 field goal attempts.
That was just one of several eye-popping numbers that emerged from contest that also saw CSU shoot 62.1 percent from the field as a team, while scooping up 18 steals and dishing off 27 assists.
“It was certainly a day where we showed the depth of our program, how many good, young players we have that aren’t getting the amount of opportunity and playing time that you’d like to get them. It’s all about growing, and learning, and getting yourself in a position where you can get better.”
