CLEVELAND – Liz Flooks and Kayla Stroman each scored in double-figures, but it wasn’t enough to pull out a road win as Niagara fell at Cleveland State, 64-50, on Friday night at the Wolstein Center.

“We shot the ball well in the first half, but committed too many turnovers,” head coach Kendra Faustin said. “We didn’t shoot as well in the second half, but we forced them into tough shots.”

Niagara (0-2) shot 45 percent (9-for-20) from the field in the first half, but still found itself trailing 36-27 at halftime. The Purple Eagles chipped away at Cleveland State’s (3-0) lead to start the second half and cut it to 42-38 when freshman Chanel Johnson made a 3-pointer with 13:56 remaining.

It would be the closet NU would get as the Purple and White had a hard time converting on offense and collecting rebounds. CSU had a 21-8 advantage on the offensive boards in the game.  

“When we cut the lead to four points we need to dig deep, but we gave up too many offensive rebounds to sustain our run,” Faustin said.

Flooks led NU with 14 points and three 3-pointers. Stroman had another solid game with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Johnson finished the game with a career-high eight points in her second career game.

Niagara continues its Ohio road trip with a Sunday afternoon game at Akron.