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Butler and Klein Combine for 32 Points in 76-59 Loss to Arizona State
Nov. 14, 2008
Contact: Greg Murphy
• Ticket Information TEMPE, Ariz. - Cleveland State battled and hung tough with 17th-ranked Arizona State for 40 minutes, but fell to the Sun Devils, 76-59, on Friday night in the opening round of the Preseason WNIT at Wells Fargo Arena. ASU advances to the second round and will host a game on Sunday, while the Vikings will play in the second and third round next weekend at a site to be determined. "I'm a little disappointed with the final outcome, but I am happy with the way we played and battled tonight," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "They were able to use their height and get a lot of second chance points and we had 24 turnovers which led to some baskets for them. We need to do a better job of taking care of the basketball because we gave them 21 more shots tonight. "I was pleased with the way we defended tonight and we did a nice job of running our offense and getting some easy points in the paint. I thought we did a great job on their two guards (Dymond Simon and Briann January), but we just gave them to many opportunities. And you can't do that against a team of Arizona State's caliber." Dominique Butler led the Vikings with a game-high 18 points (9-for 12 FG) and four steals, while Kailey Klein added 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Jessica Roque scored nine points and Shawnita Garland added eight points, seven assists and a career-high tying five steals off the bench.
"I thought Dom and Shawnita were great tonight," Peterson Abiad said. "Shawnita especially gave us some great minutes off the bench and has really come into her role." Sybil Dosty led the Sun Devils with a double-double effort of 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Lauren Lacey had 11 points and Dymond Simon and Kristen Thompson 10 apiece. ASU scored the first five points of the contest, claiming a quick 5-0 lead just one minute in. However, a 7-2 run allowed CSU to pull within one point (8-7) on a free throw from Klein. The Sun Devils then turned to their inside game, scoring the next eight points, including six on layups to regain a 16-7 advantage with 12:36 to play in the half. They pushed the lead to as many as 18 points (28-10) with 7:27 left in the half, but nine consecutive points by CSU brought the Vikings back to within nine (28-19) on a Butler jumper. Garland also had a key three-pointer and steal during the run. With the Vikings threatening, ASU again turned to Dosty as she scored three straight baskets to push the Sun Devil lead back to 15 (34-19). Following a Jessica Roque three-pointer, Dosty converted another layup, giving ASU a 36-22 lead at halftime. After exchanging buckets to start the second half, the Vikings went on an 8-2 run, highlighted by four points from Butler, to pull back within eight points (40-32) and force an ASU 30 second timeout. It seemed to work and slow down the momentum that the Vikings had as ASU scored seven straight points to push the lead back to 15 points (47-32). But the Vikings refused to give in, despite battling a Sun Devil team that has seven players over 6-foot-2, including the 6-foot-3 Dosty and 6-foot-6 Thompson. CSU was able to cut its deficit to 10 points on numerous occasions in the second half and even got it down to eight points (55-47) with eight minutes to play. But that was as close as CSU could get as six straight Sun Devil points pushed the lead back to 16 points (65-49) with 5:14 to play. CSU wound up shooting .556 (25-45) from the field, including a 16-for-22 (.727) effort in the second half. However, the Sun Devils took 21 more shots than CSU, finishing 31-of-66 (.470) from the floor as they took advantage of 18 offensive rebounds and forced 24 Viking turnovers which they turned into 30 points. ASU outrebounded the Vikings, 39-22, as the Vikings also forced 18 turnovers.
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