Oakland Falls to Cleveland State Before Tournament Rematch

In their final game of the regular season, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies women’s basketball team let an early lead slip away against the Cleveland State Vikings on the road this Saturday.

The loss gives the Golden Grizzlies a final regular-season record of 10-20 and a conference record of 7-13. Both records are an improvement compared to last season, when Oakland finished with a record of 9-22 and a conference record of 6-14.

As far as the conference standings go, Oakland finishes the season in eighth place, avoiding the new play-in and moving directly on to the first round of the Horizon League tournament. The only caveat is that the Golden Grizzlies will have to play the rest of the season on the road or at a neutral site.

Lianna Baxter led the Golden Grizzlies in scoring, nearly posting a double-double with 18 points and eight rebounds. Makenzie Luehring also had a solid game, finishing with 15 points, a team-high five assists and five rebounds.

For the Vikings, Izabella Zingaro was unstoppable, with a 26-point performance while shooting 78.6% from the field. Colbi Maples was another Viking who was efficient all afternoon, putting up 20 points while shooting at a 50% clip.

Maples didn’t waste any time getting the Cleveland State offense rolling in this matchup, converting a layup on the Vikings’ first possession of the game within ten seconds. Luehring responded on Oakland’s next possession, however, knocking down a triple for Oakland’s first lead of the game.

Through the rest of the first quarter, both teams remained within striking distance of one another. With multiple ties and lead changes in the frame, Layla Gold hit a pull-up mid-range shot to give the Golden Grizzlies a 21-18 lead at the end of the quarter.

For the majority of the second quarter, each team was neck-and-neck, with no formidable leads being built. However, all of that changed in the final four minutes of the quarter.

With Cleveland State down a possession, Zingaro kick-started a Viking run that saw them score 11 unanswered points, highlighted by two straight buckets from Jada Leonard. The Vikings entered the locker room not just with a 36-28 lead, but with momentum.

At the break, the Golden Grizzlies shot at a 31.3% (10-for-32) rate from the field while the Vikings made 66.7% (16-for-24) of their looks. From deep, Oakland made 37.5% (6-for-16) of their attempts while Cleveland State shot at a 50% (4-for-8) clip.

Oakland struggled in the opening moments of the third quarter, both offensively and in keeping Zingaro out of the paint. Through the first three minutes of the quarter, Zingaro single-handedly went on an 8-2 run, bolstering the Cleveland State lead to 14 points.

Although the Golden Grizzlies battled back the rest of the quarter, at one point coming within five points of the Vikings’ lead, Zingaro was just on another level. Of the 12 points scored by Cleveland State in the quarter, all of them came from Zingaro as the Vikings led 48-41 heading into the final quarter.

Oakland kept the pace with the Vikings into the fourth quarter, mostly thanks to former Viking Flippa Goula, who knocked down a pair of three-pointers to keep the game within reach.

Despite Oakland’s efforts, Maples hit a dagger three with two minutes remaining to give Cleveland State an 11-point cushion the Golden Grizzlies couldn’t overcome as the Vikings came away on top, 73-59.

Up next, the Golden Grizzlies will ironically face off with the Vikings yet again on Wednesday, March 4, on Cleveland State’s home floor. With a tip-off slated for 7 p.m., this game marks the first round of the Horizon League tournament.

Takeaways

The bad news is that the Golden Grizzlies end their regular season on a loss. The good news is that Oakland had an early look at who their opponent would be as postseason play ensues.

While a 14-point defeat isn’t something for any team to be happy about, there are adjustments that Oakland can make to possibly play spoiler to Cleveland State.

For starters, the Golden Grizzlies didn’t lose the turnover battle in this game. Both teams finished with 14 turnovers, but the Vikings did a better job at capitalizing on those turnovers.

The visitors were outscored 23-9 when looking at points off turnovers. In the second quarter, when Cleveland State started to pull away, the Golden Grizzlies were outscored 12-0 in the same department.

In addition to cleaning up how Oakland responds after forcing a turnover, slowing down any of the Viking trio that consists of Zingaro, Maples and Leonard isn’t optional but essential. 

The trio of Vikings each shot at least 50% or better from the field in this matchup. Additionally, 63 of the Vikings’ 73 points all came from Zingaro, Maples and Leonard.

This upcoming Wednesday, Oakland gets a rare second chance to write its wrongs. However, it will require solving a puzzle they couldn’t crack just days earlier.

---

Enjoyed this article? Help keep HoriZone Roundtable going.

👉 Donate here: https://horizoneroundtable.com/donate

👉 Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/horizoneroundtable