CLEVELAND — For how hard the fight was, the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team must have looked up at the scoreboard after Friday night's season opener and done a double-take.

The Badgers, who are expected to make a run into the NCAA tournament and contend for the Big Ten Conference title, found themselves in a nip-and-tuck affair with Cleveland State, a team that's pegged to finish near the bottom of the Horizon League after winning just eight games last season.

But in the end, UW pulled away for an 82-62 win at the Wolstein Center in a game that certainly was much closer than the score indicated.

"It was a game where, when you're on the road and you can come away with a 20-point win ... we won ugly, that's just the way it is," Badgers fifth-year coach Lisa Stone said in a telephone interview after the game.

UW (1-0) got that win thanks in large part to senior guard Jolene Anderson.

The preseason Big Ten Player of the Year scored a career-high 37 points — surpassing her previous best of 30, set in last year's win over Arkansas State in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament — and ripped down 12 rebounds against an undersized Cleveland State (0-1) team.

"She was on fire," Stone said of Anderson, who scored in double-digits for the 30th straight time and 90th out of her 94 career games. "She's going to help us win games, there's no question. She's a great player."

Anderson shot 13-for-26, making as many field goals as the rest of the team combined. Her effort ranks third on UW's all-time single-game scoring list, trailing Barb Franke (38) and Keisha Anderson (45).

UW entered the game thinking it could take advantage of its significant size advantage over the Vikings — Cleveland State has no player taller than 6-foot, while the Badgers have eight players taller than 6-0.

But the Vikings' quick lineup and penetrating offense forced UW to counter with a small lineup of its own, and Cleveland State led by five midway through the first half.

"I tried not to panic. I tried to, again, stay very, very confident with our team," Stone said. "I said, 'We're going to win the game. Let's just clean some things up.' "

UW led 61-58 with 6 minutes, 14 seconds remaining, but closed the game on a 21-4 run to separate itself from the Vikings.

"I think we sputtered a bit and it's an early test and one that we'll learn a lot from," Stone said.