Led by Macie Taylor’s 20 points, the Bob Dunn era at Cleveland State opened in spectacular fashion on Monday night, as the Vikings upset Penn State 62-61 at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, PA.
The victory was CSU’s first against a high-major opponent since toppling Big East foe DePaul in overtime early in the 2022-23 season, and its first over a Big Ten program since besting Indiana on December 2, 2012.
It Was Over When…
…the clock hit triple zeros, following a final minute that had as many turns (and lasted about as long) as a game of Monopoly.
The Vikings took the lead for good at 54-52 with 2:45 remaining when Chloe Oliver, trapped down low, nevertheless found Alexa Hocevar crashing down the paint for a layup that would turn out to be the visitors’ final field goal of the evening. Just under two minutes later, with 50.5 seconds to go, free throws by Paula Pique and Taylor had CSU ahead 58-53 and in fantastic shape to hang on for the win.
That’s about when things became interesting.
After Penn State’s Enjulina Gonzalez trimmed the lead back to 58-55 at the line, Cleveland State had a chance to burn a significant amount of the remaining clock, but turned it over on a held ball situation. The Nittany Lions quickly called a timeout, but then committed a five-second violation on the subsequent inbounds pass. That returned the ball to CSU with 23.2 seconds left, and the Vikings still ahead by three.
Surely, at that point, it was simply a case of sinking a few more free throws and getting on the bus, right?
Wrong. Once PSU exhausted its last foul to give, Oliver committed a charge jostling for position on the next inbound pass. The home side’s Devyn Quigley then badly missed a tying three-point attempt from the right corner, and the rebound went out of bounds off of a Penn State player. Nittany Lions head coach Tanisha Wright challenged the possession decision, lost, and was hit with a technical foul, since she didn’t have any timeouts left to offer as payment for the review.
Taylor connected on the technical foul shots to put the Vikings ahead 60-55, and Cleveland State also retained possession with 15.6 seconds left.
“I felt great that Coach picked me to shoot those,” Taylor said of those free throws. “I felt weirdly confident, and I just felt right. I just kind of blocked out all the noise, and I was ready to shoot those for my team.”
Game over? Not quite yet.
CSU successfully inbounded the ball (a noteworthy development, all things considered), and Taylor added on two more free throws to make the score 62-55. However, Quigley immediately responded with a wing three, and after a Vikings timeout, Penn State’s Skylar Durley forced a turnover on the following inbounds pass with 7.1 ticks remaining. Ava Black capitalized with a 29-footer from dead center, and just like that, the Cleveland State edge was down to 62-61 with 4.8 seconds to go.
Taylor was again sent to the line 1.1 seconds later, but missed both of her attempts. PSU, out of timeouts, quickly rushed the rebound up the floor, but could only manage a desperate heave by Quigley (that likely was after the buzzer sounded anyway).
Exhale.
“We had a great next play mentality, because we made a lot of mistakes in that last minute, but we got it back and it didn’t end up hurting us,” a relieved Dunn said.
It’s not often that a mid-major gets away with missing multiple chances to clinch a result against a power-conference opponent, but the Vikings did just that on Monday.
Cleveland State’s Standout Player
Taylor was a dynamo all game long. Obviously, her late free throws were instrumental to the result, but she showed plenty beyond that on the way to game-highs in points and assists (five), alongside six rebounds. Whether she was knocking down a three-pointer, or finding a late cutter for a wide-open layup, the former Wright State and Miami player looked like someone ready to drive play for the Vikings all season long.
“She’s just an ultimate competitor at everything that she does,” Dunn offered. “She is super competitive and has a great sense of urgency about her, and she wants to win and she’s fun and locked in during those big moments. She can step up and hit those technical free throws with nobody else standing around in the last minute of a Big Ten game. She’s ready and she wants those moments.”
Three Other Observations
1. Those who had become accustomed to the Chris Kielsmeier offense at Cleveland State might have been a bit shocked to see the Vikings abandon a conventional low-post game and begin most possessions with all five players on the perimeter.
After an extremely slow start – CSU shot just 3-for-17 and scored nine points during the opening quarter – the new system started to take hold. With tons of movement away from the play, primary ballhandlers Taylor and Oliver (nine points, five assists) were frequently able to find slashers like Hocevar (nine points) and, sometimes, each other, for the sort of diversity that was able to keep the Nittany Lions off balance. If there wasn’t a clean lane to the basket, Taylor, Sarah Hurley (nine points on 3-for-9 from three-point range), or Annika Corcoran (an important triple late in the first half) were ready to bury a deep ball.
“I love our offense,” Taylor said. “I think the best part of our offense is that any night, anyone can go off. And I think the best part about us is that we share the ball and we get hyped for other people’s shots over our own.”
Reading between the lines, it seems clear that while Taylor might have earned the accolades on Monday night, Cleveland State is not going to be a top-heavy team.
2. One of the more interesting aspects of the game was its coaching matchup. Dunn, of course, was an assistant at PSU last season under then-head coach Carolyn Kieger. Kieger, however, was fired at the end of the year, rendering Dunn a free agent ahead of his eventual return to Cleveland State.
Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft hired Wright, a program legend as a player during the early 2000s, to take over, but the new coach was forced to assemble an entirely rebuilt roster after the whole 2025-26 squad followed the coaching staff out the door. That amplification of the usual first-game uneasiness probably did the Vikings a pretty large favor.
CSU spent much of the game in zone defense, and though Black (17 points) and Quigley (12) led the Nittany Lions in scoring, they were frequently kept to the outside and shot a combined 9-for-27 – with several of those misses producing mostly-uncontested rebounds. Ultimately, despite a pretty significant size disadvantage, Cleveland State outscored its hosts in the paint, and were only minus-4 on the glass.
Regardless of the exact circumstances, earning Dunn’s first win as a head coach was a meaningful moment for the program. And, though nobody would directly say so, it undoubtedly counted a little bit extra coming against a school that essentially discarded him eight months ago.
“We wanted to do it for Coach Dunn,” Taylor said. “I know it means a lot to him, so we wanted to do this for him. But also, each of us have a lot to prove, so I hope we showed that tonight.”
3. The Vikings brought ten players to Happy Valley, and only nine were available, as guard Hanna Medina Kajevic sported a boot on her right foot. The other three members of the roster – Brianna Barr-Buday, Tiyahna Trottier, and Fatou Sane – were conspicuously absent. Sane played in CSU’s exhibition win over Clarion last week, though neither of the other two were in the building then. Barr-Buday, in fact, hasn’t been spotted in any team-related activity since prior to October 3rd, when Cleveland State held an open practice.
Dunn no-commented the statuses of the missing trio.
“They were not with the team tonight, and that’s all that I’ll say right now regarding those players,” he said. “We may have an update soon, but those three were not with the team tonight.”
Whatever the specifics to the situation(s), it seems like the Vikings might have to ride things out with a short bench for the foreseeable future.
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