Cleveland State's women's basketball team won their game against Jackson State but dropped a game to Columbia State this past weekend. Now sitting at 4-3 on the season, 1-3 in the conference, the Lady Cougars will have a chance to steer the ship in the right direction this Christmas break.
Defeating Jackson State 73-71, the Lady Cougars were led by Ebony Kelley who contributed 20 points on 7-15 shooting.
Julia Gaither also added 14 points with 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 steals. Abby Hubert scored 18 points and 5 steals and is currently sitting 5th in the NJCAA in points per game.
Next up was a loss against Columbia State, 59-51. Leading the Lady Cougars in this one was Abby Hubert who tallied 26 points with 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Julia Gaither added 15 points with 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals while Ebony Kelley scored 10 points with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. These were the only Lady Cougars to score a point against Columbia State.
Head Coach Evelyn Thompson said, "The deciding factor in the Columbia State game was effort. Columbia State put forth effort. We did not. We will continue to lose until we decide to come out every game with full and consistent effort. I can handle losing. What I can not handle is losing due to a lack of effort." She continued, commenting on the upcoming game against Centeral Georgia Tech, "The focus as we prepare for Central Georgia Tech will be finding 5 people who want to put forth a winning effort.”
Cleveland State's men's basketball team added two games to their win column, with victories against Jackson State and Columbia State this past weekend. Now 6-2 on the season, the Cougars will have a chance to regroup before picking the seaason back up in 2018.
Defeating Jackson State 87-64, the Cougars were led by Victor Curry who posted 20 points and 16 rebounds. That's Victor's 6th double-double in just 7 games. Tevin Olison was also in the mix, knocking down 16 points with 4 assists. Domont'a Wright had 13 points and 8 rebounds while Cam Copeland had 11 points and 10 assists.
Next the Cougars rolled past Columbia State with a score of 92-72. It was an offensive showing for the Cougars, where every starter scored in double digits. Leading the pack was Domont'a Wright who tallied 19 points with 5 rebounds and an assists. Next up was Darius Turman, who scored 18 points on 7-11 shooting. Victor Curry posted 17 points and 15 rebounds, his 7th double-double on the season. Tevin Olison had 16 points with 3 steals and 2 blocks while Cam Copeland snagged 14 points with 4 steals and 6 assists.
Head Coach Lee Cigliano said, "I think our guys gained some confidence having success this week and understand that we are capable. But at the same time, my hope is they also understand the level of effort needed in practice each day, whether we are out there 30 minutes or 2 hours, in order to improve. The season is still very young but I'm pleased with our start. Ultimately as a coach you want your team to be competitive and do all the things necessary to get to the level of the competition that our opponents and conference demand. There really isn't an area that we can't improve on- Half-Court Offense, Half-Court Defense, Transition Defense, Rebounding, etc. We need to be better if we want to have a successful season.”
Next up, Cleveland State will travel to Macon, GA on Tuesday to take on Central Georgia Technical College. The women will play at 5:30 PM and the men at 7:30 PM EST.