Nov. 18, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Greg Murphy
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Kailey Klein scored a game-high 23 points and in the process, became the 20th player in school-history to record 1,000 career points to lead Cleveland State to a 76-67 win over Eastern Michigan in the Vikings home opener on Tuesday night in the Wolstein Center.
Klein's 23 points brought her career total to 1,009, tied for 19th in program history.
"Kailey is a very special player and we knew what she was capable of doing when she arrived in the program," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "We had an offensive system that we knew she could thrive in and she has made me look very smart.
"She has brought a renewed confidence to this program and has sent the message that high caliber players will play at Cleveland State. To score 1,000 points just two games into her junior season is remarkable and it is a joy knowing that she still has half of her career to go.
Klein also finished with seven rebounds and five assists.
Senior Dominique Butler added 18 points, her second 18 point effort in as many games this season, and nine rebounds, while Jessica Roque tallied 11 points. All came in the second half.
Butler is on track to join Klein in the 1,000 point club, as she is now just 125 points shy of the mark.
The Vikings hit 27-of-47 (.574) from the field, their second straight solid effort from the floor after shooting .556 (25-45) at Arizona State in Friday's season opener.
The first half was close throughout as it featured eight ties and nine lead changes. Fittingly, the first 20 minutes ended deadlocked at 30-30.
Klein paced the Vikings in the first half, scoring 15 of her points, including 13 of CSU's first 15 points to help CSU hang around in the first half.
Roque gave CSU a huge spark at the start of the second half, scoring the first seven of CSU's first nine points to help the Vikings gain a 39-32 lead with 17:27 left.
CSU would extend the advantage to 11 points (47-36) on a pair of free throws by Klein with 13:13 left, but the Eagles came back to cut their deficit to six (55-49) on a three-pointer from Mary Lawson with 9:10 to play.
EMU hung around over the next five minutes and still trailed by five (65-60) with four minutes to play.
However, a 6-0 CSU run, including four points from Klein, pushed the lead back to double-digits (71-60) with 2:34 to play as CSU iced the game.
"It was important to come back and get this win tonight against a very good program," Peterson Abiad said. "It was a great way to open our home season, especially after battling a very good Arizona State team just four days ago.
"In the first half, I was really frustrated with the way our offense was running, but I thought we did a great job in the second half on both ends of the court. We were able to create a lead and when they started to make runs, we held them off and closed out the game.
"We didn't play our best tonight, but we played well enough to win."
Cassie Schrock led the Eagles with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists.
The Vikings outrebounded EMU, 33-20 and held the Eagles to a .395 (17-43) effort from the field.
CSU will be back in action on Friday evening in the consolation second round of the Preseason WNIT when the Vikings play Illinois State at 5:30 p.m. at Ball State.
