Klein nets all-Horizon League honors
Kailey Klein and the Cleveland State Vikings are on a roll.
On Monday, Klein, a sophomore guard from Cherry, was named to the Horizon League First Team All-Conference. Two nights later, she showed why she’s one of the Horizon’s elite players, by leading the Vikings to a 79-68 win over Butler in the opening round game of the Horizon League Tournament on their homecourt in downtown Cleveland.
The 5-10 guard scored a game-high 20 points with a game-high 13 rebounds. She also contributed six assists and two steals.
The fourth-seeded Vikings (18-13) upset top-seeded Green Bay 90-66 on Friday. Klein scored 18 points. The Vikings (18-13) will face Wright State at 1 p.m. Sunday for the Horizon title in Green Bay.
Klein is averaging 19.7 points, second in the league, and is also ranked among the top 15 in the league statistics in rebounding, assists, steals, field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage. The three-time Horizon League Player of the Week has scored 571 points this season, second most in program history and also made 190 free throws, a single-season CSU record.
Klein was joined on the first team by Milwaukee’s Traci Edwards, the league Player of the Year, Green Bay’s Rachel Porath, Butler’s Lade Akande and Wright State’s Shey Peddy.
• Katie Carls and the St. Francis University Saints saw their season come to a close with a 85-73 loss to St. Xavier in the semifinals of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on March 6. The Saints had just upset the then No. 11-ranked St. Xavier nine days before. Carls, a sophomore point guard from St. Bede/Spring Valley, scored 14 points for the Bees (18-14).
Carls hit three threes and scored 12 of her game-high points in the second half to lead the Saints to a 73-68 win over Indiana-South Bend in its CCAC opener.
• Brooke Jensen (Tiskilwa) and the Asbury College Eagles fell to top-seeded Midway College 58-38 in the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament at home in Wilmore, Ky. The freshman out of Princeton High School averaged 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game for the 13-16 Eagles, making eight starts.
Track
Two Bureau County products contributed to North Central College’s eighth straight CCIW indoor title March 1 in Kenosha, Wis. Jordan Inskeep of Princeton contributed a fourth-place finish (8.28) for the Cardinals in the 55-meter hurdles. Andrew Foote (St. Bede) won the weight throw at 51-11 1/4.
CCIW runner-up Augustana was also helped by its own Bureau County connection. Junior Evan Holschbach ran on the Vikings’ winning 1600 relay for a top time of 3:21.86. Previously, that same team ran the third-fastest time, 3:19.16, in NCAA Division III.
Wes Jackson of Mineral hit the national qualifier for the NCAA meet in the pole vault, placing third at 15-7 3/4. Senior John Thompson (Hall/Ladd) cleared 15-1 3/4 to place fourth. However, only Thompson was able to stick a mark (16-0 at the Whitewater Invitational) that stood up in the top 12 for nationals, and Jackson’s mark did not.
Other area Augie tracksters, include juniors Jeff Scoma (hurdles), Alex Hartz (sprints), senior Laura Luloff (mid-distance) and sophomore Angela Baumgartner, all of Princeton.
• Wisconsin-Platteville junior Scott Howard will be joining Jackson at nationals in the pole vault this weekend in Ada, Ohio, having cleared 16-0. He was the WIAC championship by clearing 15-11 1/4 in Superior, Wis.
• Three Bureau County athletes concluded their season for St. Ambrose. Freshman Lauren Gunawan (Neponset/Bureau Valley) had season-bests 8-9 3/4 in the pole vault and 27-20 in the shot put for St. Ambrose. Senior Alex Flores (Ladd/Hall) clocked a 4:49.05 in the 1600 and 9:41.22 in the 300. Bureau Valley product Danny DeVenney, an sophomore, had a 37-9 1/2 in the weight throw, a 36-6 1/4 in the shot put an 8.95 in the 55-meter hurdles.
• Katherine Slevin (St. Bede) clocked a season best 11:47.79 in the 3000 meter run for the Illinois Wesleyan Lady Titans in the Keck Invite on Feb. 8.
Softball
• Freshman shortstop Rachel Whiteside of Sheffield and the Central College Dutch have traveled to Orange, Calif. to play in the season-opening Sun West Classic. White-side, the 2007 Co-BCR Player of the Year from Bureau Valley, is one of five freshman who could be in the starting lineup for the Dutch. Web casts of the Dutch’s games are available at www.kniakrls.com.
• First year Monmouth College coach John Goodard is looking for a lot of senior leadership from Anna Coutts (Ladd/Hall) and Kristen Bickett (Malden/PHS) this spring. Bickett returns for her fourth year as the Fighting Scots catcher while Ladd patrols the outfield.
The Fighting Scots are returning Saturday from their spring trip to Arizona. Coutts had two hits and a RBI leading off for the Fighting Scots in a 7-6 loss to Calvin College on Wednesday in Tuscon and had two hits the day before against Kenyon.
Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
