Women’s basketball eliminated early and loses coach

By Samantha Meyer

After entering the 2018 Horizon League tournament with a 19-10 overall record, the sixth seeded Cleveland State women’s basketball team was defeated by the third seeded Wright State University Raiders.

The team traveled to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan on March 4 to face off against Wright State. The Vikings had played against the Raiders twice in the regular season, defeating them both times.

Leading the team in scoring against Wright State was sophomore Jade Ely with 19 points. She was followed closely by her teammates Ashanti Abshaw and Olivia Voskuhl, who both contributed 13 points.

A couple of records were set during the game in Michigan.

Senior Khayla Livingston set a program record for three-pointers in a single season, making one during the game to finish the season with a total of 90 three-pointers. Also landing in the record books is Ashanti Abshaw, who passed the 1,600-point mark for her career. She ended the game with 1,607-points and became the first junior to reach this mark.

Khayla Livingston, who just last month was named to the All-Horizon League First Team, saw her collegiate basketball career come to an end against Wright State.

“During the Wright State game in the tournament, we were able to get off to a good start, but Wright State went on a couple runs during the first half, and we weren’t able to control the tempo, which ended up hurting us,” Livingson said. “During the second half, we were able to close the gap a little, but we just couldn’t get close enough to make a real push. It’s definitely heartbreaking to see not only your season end, but for me, also my career at Cleveland State come to an end.”

While the women were disappointed with an early exit, they recognized all that they were able to achieve throughout the season.

“Overall, I thought we had a good season. We worked hard from the first practice all the way until the very end, and that definitely showed in our performances,” Livingston said. “I thought we had a good mindset throughout the season, which led to a couple of winning streaks for us. We were able to start the season with a good non-league record, which definitely helped us during league play and down the final stretch of the year.”

As the Lady Vikings reflect on their winning season, they were forced to take in the sudden resignation of their head coach, Kate Peterson Abiad.

After 15 years with the program, Abiad has decided to step away from collegiate basketball to focus on her family. Her resignation is not without notice as the team notes that Cleveland State basketball would not be what it is today without the time and effort she has put into the program.

“For the last 15 seasons, Coach P has been part of the Cleveland State women’s basketball program. She has helped the Vikings reach a high level of success throughout that time,” Livingston said. “She has been an integral part of so many student-athletes’ lives, and we are all thankful for the time that she spent with us. Cleveland State women’s basketball definitely wouldn’t be what it is today without Coach P.”