By SCOTT NOVAK

Dowagiac Daily News

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – What a difference a year makes.

The NCAA Tournament fortunes of the Notre Dame women’s basketball team have turned around from the last time they played a post season game at the Joyce Center.

Not only does the facility sport a new name, Purcell Pavilion, but the luck of the Irish has changed as well.

Notre Dame poured in 52 second half points Sunday afternoon to send pesky Cleveland State packing following an 86-58 victory over the Vikings in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Last year the Fighting Irish were upset by Minnesota in the tournament, leaving a lot of players wanting to prove something on Sunday even though they said they had put that game behind them.

“We are just taking it one game at a time,” Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. “We got the first win and it feels pretty good. We have to win here again on Tuesday, so now we are going to focus on that game. We are just going to take it one game at a time from here on out.”

The Fighting Irish (28-5) battled through a first half that saw Cleveland State hang tough until the closing moments thanks to the efforts of Kailey Klein.

Klein poured in 21 points against the Irish in the opening 20 minutes and had all but four of the Vikings’ points.

Cleveland State (19-14) trailed Notre Dame 34-25 at the half.

“I think we did a nice job in the first half, and they ran a lot of high post entries,” Cleveland State coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. “We worked on trying to harass the ball handler and covering the ball screen on the post. I thought they took advantage of the handoffs in the second half, and we were not as able to defend that. They can either go right or left off the high-post entry, and we tend to jump to one side or the other. We play man-defense. We tried to scrap and scramble a few times, so we did not try a whole lot of different things, but relied on our bread and butter that has been our man-defense. They have so many weapons off of one play. Their kids off the bench are just as capable of scoring.”

One of those kids was Becca Bruszewski, who finished with a game-high 14 points for the Fighting Irish, who will face Vermont on Tuesday night.

Notre Dame came out in the second half and began pounding the ball inside to take advantage of its superior height advantage.

“We had a height advantage,” McGraw said. “They came in a little bigger in the first half when Devereaux Peters was in foul trouble, but in the second half I thought we did a better job of getting the ball down to Lindsay Schrader, Erica Williamson, Becca Bruszewski and Devereaux. We just really wanted to get them some touches.”

On top of that, Notre Dame turned up its defensive focus on Klein and limited her to just 10 points in the final 20 minutes.

“In the first half, Klein was constantly moving and we were not quite sure where she was,” said Ashley Barlow, who was given the job of shutting her down. “As Coach McGraw said, she is a great player and she was finding ways to score at will in the first half. In the second half, we tried to locate her and know where she was on the floor at all times. I tried to not let her touch the ball at all and tried hard to deny her in the second half.”

The lead steadily grew throughout the second half and reached 29 minutes in the closing minutes before the Irish emptied their bench and began thinking about Tuesday night.

Bruszewski was joined in double figures by Barlow with 13 and Devereaux Peters with 12.

Freshman Skylar Diggins scored just seven points, all in the first half, but finished with seven rebounds and eight assists – both team highs.

“I think it is interesting that her perception was that she did not play well,” answered McGraw, when asked about her prize freshman’s performance. “After the game in the locker room I said, ‘Leading rebounder, Skylar Diggins. Leader in assists, Skylar Diggins. Leader in steals, Skylar Diggins.’ I think a lot of times players look at their offense, and she looks at her turnovers, which I think indicates that she was a little nervous to start the game. I tried to get her start to breath on defense, and we put her more in passing roles. That is part of the reason that she wound up with eight assists. I was really happy with her defensively and the rest of her game, but I am sure that she is not happy with her game today. I would like to see her shoot more though; she was only one for four. I think after getting one game under her belt, she is going to be ready for Tuesday.”

Klein finished with 31 points, the only Vikings’ player to reach double digits.

“Barlow was face guarding me all over the floor, but I was kind of expecting that,” she said of Notre Dame’s second half defensive effort on her. “I hoped that my teammates could get some shots, and I was just going to relax and take what came to me.

“It really hit me when I went off the floor that it was the end of my season. I really just went out there and gave it all I could. Notre Dame was my idol growing up, so I wanted to come in here and prove myself on the floor I always wanted to play on,” she concluded before breaking down in tears.

Notre Dame shot an impressive 33-of-64 from the field (52 percent) and was 17-of-23 from the foul line.

Cleveland State managed to hit just 22-of-59 attempts (37 percent), but was 12-of-16 from the stripe.

The Fighting Irish also had a 40-33 rebounding advantage and forced 24 turnovers, while committing just 14 themselves.

CLEVELAND STATE 58

Stephaine Crosley 7; Shawnita Garland 2; Kailey Klein 31; Angel Roque 4; Jessica Roque 0; Kaila Montgomery 0; Janelle Adams 6; Takima Keane 0; Shalonda Winton 5; Destinee Blue 0; Honesty King 3. TOTALS: 22 12-16 58

NOTRE DAME 86

Erica Williamson 8; Skylar Diggins 7; Ashley Barlow 13; Melissa Lechlitner 6; Lindsay Schrader 8; Fraderica Miller 4; Devereaux Peters 12; Kaila Turner 2; Natalie Novosel 7; Brittany Mallory 5; Becca Bruszewski 14; Alena Christiansen 0. TOTALS: 33 17-23 86

Halftime score: Notre Dame 34, Cleveland State 25. 3-point baskets: Cleveland State 2 (Klein 1, King 1), Notre Dame 3 (Barlow 1, Novosel 1, Mallory 1). Total fouls (fouled out): Cleveland State 17 (None), Notre Dame 15 (None). Records: Cleveland State 19-14, Notre Dame 28-5