Cleveland St. falls to Notre Dame

Associated Press

south bend, ind.

Cleveland State’s Kailey Klein couldn’t escape Notre Dame’s Ashley Barlow too often in the second half.

Irish coach Muffet McGraw put her best defender on Klein after the 5-foot-11 guard scored 21 straight points for the Vikings in the first half and kept the first round NCAA tournament game Sunday closer than expected. By the time Klein hit her first basket in the second half, the Irish were ahead by 19 and pulling away for an 86-58 victory.

“Barlow was chasing me all over the floor,” Klein said. “I was coming out expecting that and I just hoped my teammates would hit some shots.”

Her teammates couldn’t hit enough, though.

While Klein scored 31 points and was 12-of-23 shooting, her teammates were just 10-of-36.

“Kailey carried us in the first half and we just weren’t able to connect from long range,” Cleveland State coach Kate Peterson Abiad said.

Klein was able to get open in the first half because she kept getting mismatches with bigger players who couldn’t guard her when the Irish pressed after baskets.

The Irish slowed her some with the zone, but not enough to satisfy McGraw.

“We decided to let Barlow have a go at it,” she said.

The Irish cruised to the victory after losing to Minnesota at home in the opening round of last year’s NCAA tournament. Notre Dame (28-5) will host Vermont (27-6) in the second round Tuesday night.