Ball State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Rolls to Win; Advances to Championship
November 26, 2005 | Women's Basketball
Ball State senior forward Krista Stewart made her first collegiate start a memorable one as she racked up a career-high 20 points in leading the Cardinals to an 83-53 victory over Lipscomb in semifinal action of the Ball State Credit Union Classic Saturday at Worthen Arena in Muncie. BSU will take on North Dakota State in Sunday's championship game, which is slated for a 2 p.m. tip-off. The Bison scored a 64-51 win over Georgetown in today's first semifinal contest. Georgetown and Lipscomb will battle in Sunday's consolation game at noon.
Ball State scored the game's first bucket on a layup by Raechelle Hampton 22 seconds into the game. After Kaleigh Gossman knotted the score, the team's traded baskets twice before Hampton's layup at the 17:29 mark put the Cardinals up -- 9-7 -- for good. BSU followed with a 19-2 run, including 13 unanswered points during a 4:04 span to take a commanding 26-9 lead with 11:36 remaining in the period. A jumper by Stephanie Douglas gave BSU its largest lead of the half at 33 points -- 49-16 -- with 42 seconds on the clock. A late basket by the Lady Bisons put the halftime score at 49-18 Ball State.
Over the first 20 minutes of the game, BSU converted 57 percent (20-of-35) percent of its shots, while holding Lipscomb to a cool 35 percent (7-of-20). The Cardinals' aggressive defense forced their opponent into 21 turnovers in the half.
Lipscomb outscored Ball State 35-34 in the second half, but the 31-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome. The closest the Lady Bison were able to get was within 22 points at 60-38 with 10:04 left in the contest. The Cardinals answered with a 12-0 run, including a 3-pointer by Kiley Jarrett and an old-fashioned three by Brandy Ross, to go back up by 34 points at 72-38 with 7:13 left on the clock.
Besides the 20-point effort of Stewart, two additional players reached double figures for BSU -- Hampton with 13 and Julie DeMuth with 10. All 11 players who dressed scored in the contest for the Cardinals. DeMuth pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, while Jarrett dished off a game-high six assists. DeMuth and Jarrett led BSU with three steals apiece.
Miriam McAlister was the lone Lipscomb player to reach double digits with her 10 points. Penny Jones was tops on the board with seven rebounds.
Ball State shot 52 percent (35-of-68) from the floor, including 6-of-12 from 3-point range. The Cardinals forced Lipscomb into 29 turnovers and won the battle of the boards 41-32.
"Krista Stewart was certainly the person who gave us a lift today," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "It was a total team effort. We had great defense in the first half and then Lipscomb came out and gave us everything we could handle in the second half. It was nice to see all of our players have a hand in this victory. We are a very deep team and when we play well, we are fun to watch.
"North Dakota State will really test us and make us play hard tomorrow. They will test our defense with a very patient offense. It should be a knock-down, drag-out battle."
With the win, Ball State improved to a perfect 3-0 on the season, while Lipscomb fell to 0-2.
In the day's first game, North Dakota State had a trio of players score in double figures -- Lisa Bue with 15, Katie Lorenz with 12 and Brandee Gibbs with 10. Danni Heintzelman pulled down 10 rebounds. Georgetown also had a trio of players reach double figures -- Kate Carlin (16), Kieraah Marlow (12) and Bethany LeSueur (11). LeSueur snared a game-high 12 rebounds. The Bison shot 42 percent for the game (24-fo-57), while holding the Hoyas to a frigid 29.9 (20-of-67) mark. NDSU is 1-2 overall, while Georgetown is 2-1.
