Klein is CSU's Best Ever:
Senior Tops 25 Year Record
Rob Ivory
Issue date: 2/8/10 Section: Sports
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"I've been trying to just let the game come to me over the past four years," Klein said. "It's paid off and I am honored."
Combined with her 21 points Thursday night against the UIC Flames (9-11; 6-3 HL), which the Vikings won 62-51, Klein scored her 1,850th point to tie Dianne Foster on a free throw at the 12:34 mark of the first half against the Loyola Ramblers. Klein said jokingly after the game that she did not want to break the record on a free throw, but two possessions later, at 11:08, Klein put up a layup under the basket to put her over the top as Angel Roque was credited with the assist.
"I noticed that it came from Angel and she has been here since I was a freshman, so it added to it," Klein remarked about the historical points. "Just having someone that has been here through the losses and who has helped established the program, to have her get me the ball that broke the record was even better."
A note on that, Angel can be seen on the pictures (only at csucauldron.com) smiling while Kailey's shot went into the air.
But Klein went right back to work after the layup; "When that was over, I wasn't even thinking about it." To prove her point, Klein scored another layup to get the Vikings back within two, then hit a three pointer less than a minute after her last basket, giving Cleveland State the 20-17 lead. "I was just focused on the game."
Kailey finished the first half with 17 points, which was more than half of the Vikings 31, as they trailed 32-31 at the half. She finished with a game high 31 points, finishing with 1,876 career points in an impressive day that included those 31 points, plus 14 rebounds (six of which were offensive), a block, an assist as she played all 40 minutes of the game.
"I don't think she has come out of very many games," Peterson-Abiad said after the game. "She is playing good defense. That has been not her strength."
But the Vikings did, however, drop the critical game to the Ramblers (11-10; 6-5 HL) 74-64, as the Vikings fell to .500, 11-11; but are 6-5 in the Horizon League. "It doesn't take anything away from my record, but it kinda hits right here that we didn't win," Klein said ask she pumped her heart.
"I don't want to skip past the point that this was a tremendous night for Kailey," Cleveland State women's head coach Kate Peterson-Abiad said after Saturday's game. "She did everything well tonight. I want to set the loss aside and that what Kailey has done at Cleveland State is remarkable." Peterson-Abiad also said about her star: "I feel blessed and honored that she broke (the record) here."
Kailey has been the top scorer for the Vikings ever since she stepped onto the downtown campus. When she began at the Wolstein Center, she became only the fifth freshmen in school history to lead the team in scoring, also she was the first Viking to earn Horizon League newcomer of the Year award and was on the all-newcomer team after her freshman year.
"I think you have to put kids into positions to be successful," Peterson Abiad said of the success Peterson has had with first Dominique Butler, who finished her career last year with 1,158 points which is good enough for 11th on the all-time scoring list. Then Kailey Klein, and possibly Shawnita Garland, who has already passed 750 points and has one year left.
Sophomore year she was runner-up as league Player of the Year as she scored the CSU single-season record 654 points, breaking the old mark of 635 by Dianne Foster (1982-83). Also in her sophomore year, she ranked second in the league in scoring (19.8), as she reached double figures in scoring in 30-of-33 contest. She also set school-records with 211 free throws made and 253 free throws attempted. She did tie a career high with 33 points on three different occasions that year, and finally she was named the Most Valuable Player of Horizon League Championship after scoring 67 points in three games, the second highest point total in tournament history.
Not to mention she led the Vikes to their first NCAA Tournament appearance, as Klein scored 16 versus the Stanford Cardinals. And last year she was named Co-Player of the Year as she became only the third player in school history to earn league Player of the Year honors and the first since 1999-00.
But Klein's senior year may be the sweetest of them all. With being one of the greatest players in school history, some impressive records could fall before the end of the year for Klein. After Saturday's game with the Ramblers, Klein is just 124 points shy of becoming the third player in Horizon League history to score 2,000 career points. Klein has started in 103 games as a Viking, which is good enough for 3rd in school history; number one is just ten starts away (113) and Klein could break if the Vikings make it to the Horizon League Championship Game on Sunday, March 14.
Klein could also be the first Viking since Debra Taylor (1987-91) to have the most points scored on the team four years in a row. CSU greats like Diane Foster, Sue Hlavacek, and Audra Cook cannot hold that same accomplishment. Hlavacek did do it, but did not do it consecutively.
"I came here (Cleveland State) for a reason, I felt it was the perfect fit for me," Klein said of here recruitment of CSU. "I am so honored just to be a part of it and to say that I go to Cleveland State." Peterson knows that the name Kailey Klein will not go away anytime soon: "Her name is going to be around for a long, long time."
The Vikings now take to the road as they travel to Valparaiso, Butler, and Youngstown State. Their next home match will be their last home stand of the year, as they welcome the current leaders of the Horizon League, Detroit on February 25.
Despite setting the all-time scoring record in Cleveland State women's basketball history, Klein has one thing on her mind; "We just have to come to practice on Monday and work hard and get were we want to be."
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