CLEVELAND – Despite putting up 25 points in the fourth quarter, the UIC women's basketball team (7-7, 0-3 HL) was unable to surpass Cleveland State (11-4, 3-1 HL) on Saturday afternoon at the Wolstein Center.

Brittany Byrd netted a career-high 31 points to pace the Flames offense, while Tylah Lampley came off the bench and poured in a career-high 15 points as well.  

First Half Highlights

• Gabryelle Johnson drew a foul to get the Flames on the board first with a pair of made free throws, but the home team came back on its next drive with a three for its first points of the game.
• Trailing by one, Taylor Toney forced a turnover into the hands of Brittany Byrd, who ran the ball back for a good layup to put the Flames up by one, 6-5.
• Byrd put together a pair of threes for a 12-7 lead for UIC, but the Flames offense soon went silent, allowing the home team to tie it at 13. A Cleveland State shot from behind the arc went in for three, giving the Vikings a 16-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
• A pair of early layups kept the Flames within one at the start of the second, but a theft by the Vikings quickly turned into two points, 20-17. Byrd's third triple of the half gave UIC the lead, 22-20, but Cleveland State answered with a long three of their own, restoring its one-point lead (23-22).
• The Vikings seemed to have a response to every offensive advantage the Flames created, preventing UIC from gaining much ground in the second quarter. With just under 30 seconds remaining in the first half, CSU registered a pair of free throws and returned another stolen ball for a layup with no response from the Flames to end the first 20 minutes with its largest lead at that point, 38-32.

Second Half Highlights

• Cleveland State carried its late first-half success into the third period, taking the first five points of the second half to extend its lead to 11, 43-32.
• Brittany Byrd netted another three to bring the deficit back into the single digits, but the Vikings went on a 10-2 run to extend its lead, 53-37. It was Byrd once again who snapped a 3:37 drought for the Flames with a jumper, and Tylah Lampley poured in a three to make it 53-42.
• The Vikings closed out the third quarter with a free throw and a jumper to head into the final ten minutes of play with a comfortable 56-42 lead.
• The Flames seemed to find a spark at the beginning of the fourth quarter, as they outscored CSU 13-6 in the first five minutes of the period.
• UIC took advantage of an 0-for-8 drought for the Vikings to go on a 7-0 run of its own to come within one, 63-62.
• A CSU free throw paired with a layup put the Vikings up by four, but Kiarra Thompson sunk a jumper to get on the board for the Flames to bring the score to 66-64.
• Untimely fouls ended up making the difference for UIC, as four Viking free throws secured a 70-67 win for Cleveland State.

Facts and Figures

• Aside from Brittany Byrd and Tylah Lampley, Gabryelle Johnson was the only other Flame to register a double-digit effort with 11 points.
• After not shooting above 50 percent in the first three quarters, UIC shot 73.3 percent in the fourth quarter while holding the Vikings to just 23.1 percent, helping to create the 25-14 margin in the final quarter.
• Both teams ended the game shooting above 40 percent, as UIC finished at 44.3 percent of shots made to CSU's 47.3 percent. The Flames netted six threes, five at the hands of Byrd, and 27 field goals compared to 26 field goals and four threes for the Vikings. Free throws became the difference maker, as the home team held a 14-7 advantage.
• The Flames once again won the battle of the boards, outrebounding the home team 40-28. UIC had almost as many defensive rebounds (23) as Cleveland State had total rebounds. Gabryelle Johnson paved the way with a double-digit rebounding effort, grabbing 10 boards for UIC.
• Turnovers created issues for the Flames, as the Vikings created 23 points off of 16 UIC miscues.

Up Next

• The Flames will return home for a three-game home stand spanning six days, beginning with Oakland on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. CT
• Thursday's match-up with Oakland will be the Flames' first night game since Dec. 18 against North Texas. The Flames are undefeated (3-0) thus far in games starting at 6 p.m. or later.