Ball State University Athletics
Cardinal Women Fall to MAC West Division Leader
January 18, 2006 | Women's Basketball
WBB BSU-EMU 1 Box.pdf
A see saw battle. A frigid shooting performance by both teams in the first half followed by a torrid pace in the second. Two of the top players in the Mid-American Conference held scoreless for better than 20 minutes. In the end, none of it mattered as Ball State suffered a 66-58 loss at the hands of preseason favorite Eastern Michigan Wednesday at Worthen Arena. The win moved the Eagles (10-5 overall and 4-0 in the league) two games ahead in the standings. Meanwhile Ball State (9-6 overall) dropped into a three-way log jam, along with Northern Illinois and Western Michigan, for second place with identical 2-2 marks.
The arena felt colder than the temperature outdoors during the first 20 minutes with the teams opening for a combined total of eight missed shots before Eastern Michigan's Sarah VanMetre nailed a long bomb for the game's first bucket at the 17:17 mark. BSU got its first shot nearly one minute later on a turnaround jumper by Raechelle Hampton. At the first media time-out with 15:42 left in the period, the teams had combined for a cool 4-of-16 from the floor and EMU leading 7-2. Over the next three minutes, the Cardinals went on a 7-1 run to take their first lead of the game at 9-8 with 12:10 on the clock. The teams traded leads over the next several minutes before Eastern Michigan closed out the half on an old-fashioned 3-point play by VanMetre to take a 22-19 lead into the break.
After the first 20 minutes, the halftime stats were not conducive to Ball State's usual .418 field goal percentage. On the contrary, the Cardinals mustered a woeful 20 percent from the floor, making good on just 6-of-30 attempts, including 1-of-4 from beyond the arc. Eastern Michigan was only slightly better, converting 8-of-28 tries for a 28.6 percentage, including 1-of-5 from 3-point range. The most notable statistic was the fact that each team's top offensive producer -- Julie DeMuth of Ball State and Ryan Coleman of Eastern Michigan -- was held scoreless.
The second half was a direct contrast from the first. Coleman sank the first shot of the period 29 seconds into it and DeMuth followed with her first bucket 23 seconds later. BSU's Becca Bajorek entered the game 2:54 into the half, marking her first appearance of the season after missing the first 14 games due to injury. Less than one minute later, she took a pass from Kelsey Corbin to score her first points of the campaign, putting the Cardinals within one point at 30-29. On Eastern Michigan's next possession, DeMuth stole the ball and converted the ensuing layup to put BSU on top 32-29 at the first media time-out. Over those first four minutes of the period, BSU hit 5-of-7 shots, while EMU converted 4-of-6.
The teams maintained their hot shooting pace for the remainder of the half. The Eagles got a layup from VanMetre at the 14:16 mark to go up 34-33, giving them a lead they would not relinquish. The teams battled the entire rest of the way with Ball State getting within a point eight times, but never being able to overcome the deficit. After Tina Bolte hit a jumper to put the Cardinals within one point for the last time at 58-57 with 2:28 on the clock, Eastern Michigan's Coleman responded with a huge 3-point field goal at the 1:36 mark and then a layup with 41 seconds left to give EMU a 63-58 advantage. The Eagles closed out the game making 3-of-4 free throws to earn the win.
In the second half, Ball State converted 15-of-23 field goals for a .652 percentage, while Eastern Michigan made good on 16-of-25 tries for a .640 mark. For the game, EMU converted 45 (24-of-53) percent of its shots plus was 16-of-20 from the line. BSU, on the other hand, connected on 21-of-53 attempts for a 39.6 mark from the field plus was 15-of-22 from the line.
DeMuth was the lone Cardinal to score in double figures with her 15-point effort -- all in the second half. She added a team-high five rebounds. VanMetre led a pack of four Eagles in double digits with 19 points. Coleman added 15, Nikki Knapp 14 and Patrice McKinney 13. McKinney, EMU's point guard, pulled down a career-high 17 boards.
"We just didn't finish it up," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "We have got to do a better job of getting a lead and building on it. We did a great job on Ryan Coleman in the first half, but players like her make plays when they need to. Eastern's starting five are very hard to match up with. I felt like we just weren't aggressive offensively in the first half, but we went right at people in the second half and that's why we made some shots."
Ball State goes back on the road Saturday when they travel to Northern Illinois to face the Huskies, who share second place with the Cardinals.
