Ball State University Athletics
Women's Hoops Picks Up Sixth Victory
December 10, 2005 | Women's Basketball
The Ball State women's basketball team improved to 6-1 on the season with a 74-66 victory over Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse Saturday. Raechelle Hampton led the way with a career-high 21 points as the Cardinals improved to 6-1, a record bettered only one previous time in the 32-year history of women's basketball at BSU.
Butler struck first with a quick layup by Carla Gheorghe with just five seconds elapsed in the game. Hampton responded with her first bucket to knot the score and then struck again only seconds later to give Ball State a lead it would not relinquish. The teams traded baskets for the next several minutes, but a 7-0 run gave the Cardinals a double-digit advantage of 21-11 with 10:06 remaining in the half. BSU boosted its advantage to 12 twice, but the Bulldogs fought back and closed the gap to four points -- 33-29 -- on a 3-pointer by Cassie Freeman with 2:07 on the clock. The teams ended the period with the Cardinals leading 37-31.
Ball State went up again by double digits early in the second half with a quick 7-0 run. Butler sliced its deficit back to five points at 45-40 with 15:07 left, but Krista Stewart responded with six points and Tina Bolte two as the Cardinals built a 13-point lead of 53-40 in a two-minute span. After a jumper by BU's Candace Bain, Julie DeMuth converted a layup and then added a 3-pointer to give BSU its largest lead of 16 points -- 58-42 -- with 10:29 remaining. The Bulldogs got within seven points twice, but the game was never in jeopardy from there.
Hampton led the way with the first 20-plus point effort of her career. She was 10-of-12 from the floor. Three additional players also reached double figures for Ball State -- DeMuth, Bolte and Stewart -- with 13 apiece. Stephanie Douglas came off the bench to contribute six points plus pull down a team-best eight rebounds as BSU posted a 38-23 advantage on the boards. Stewart's points were all in the second half -- off the bench -- including seven in the final three minutes.
The Cardinals shot 52 (31-of-60) from the floor, but just 8-of-16 from the free throw line. Butler converted 45 (23-of-51) percent of its shots and 12-of-15 free tosses. Jackie Closser had a game-high 22 points.
"I was proud of our kids today," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "After the loss to Valparaiso, they felt like they had something to prove and they did that tonight. What a great game for Raechelle. We challenged her and she responded. Krista did a fantastic job off the bench and Erica Cotton, in her first start, was huge on defense."
Ball State continues a seven-game road trek next Saturday at Wright State, followed by a date at No. 2/2 Duke Dec. 19.
