Ball State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Overcomes Adversity and Wins
January 22, 2006 | Women's Basketball
DeKALB, Ill. -- Two starters on the bench with injuries would certainly not be on Ball State head coach Tracy Roller's list of needs. In spite of it, the Cardinals hung firm and tallied a 68-62 win over Northern Illinois Saturday in DeKalb, Ill. Erica Cotton scored a career-high 17 points as the Cardinals improved to 10-6 overall and 3-2 in Mid-American Conference play.
Entering the game with fulltime starters and tri-captains Tina Bolte and Julie DeMuth in street clothes, Northern Illinois had a decided advantage and showed it early. The Huskies scored first and held the lead for 19:59 of the first half, before the Cardinals' Kiley Jarrett knocked down a long bomb as time expired to knot the game at the break.
The Huskies managed the first of two eight-point leads at 16-8, thanks to an 8-0 run during a four-minute stretch early in the half. BSU's Porchia Green broke the drought with back-to-back free throws at the 12:05 mark. After trading baskets, NIU went back on top by eight -- 29-21 -- with 4:30 on the clock. A 3-point play by Kelsey Corbin got the Cardinals within five. Cotton converted back-to-back free throws to reduce Northern Illinois' lead to just one point at 38-37 with 25 left. After a quick bucket by Mary Basic increased the Huskies' lead to three, Jarrett found net nine seconds later to tie the score at 40-40.
It was the Erica Cotton show for the first five minutes of the second half. Cotton scored the first eight points, including a long 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Ball State the lead for the first time at 45-44 with 18:11 remaining. An old fashioned 3-point play by Cotton put BSU on top 48-44 with 17:41 on the clock. After the Huskies tied the score, Jarrett converted her second 3-pointer of the day, giving BSU back a 51-48 lead. A jumper by Jennifer Uptmor ended a nearly four-minute scoring drought for the Huskies and put them within one point, but Becca Bajorek immediately responded with an eight-foot jumper to put BSU on top 53-50 at the second media timeout of the half.
Ball State went up by five after Green stole the ball on Northern Illinois' first play after the timeout and found Corbin for a layup. Back-to-back free throws by Becca Bajorek augmented BSU's lead to seven points at 57-50. Mary Basic's layup with 8:44 on the clock put to an end another three-minute NIU offensive stagnation. Basic added another bucket 20 seconds later after a steal to cut her team's deficit to three points with 8:23 remaining.
The teams traded baskets for most of the next five-plus minutes. At the final media timeout with 3:30 remaining, Ball State held its slim three-point advantage -- 61-58. After Cotton's banked jumper gave the Cardinals a 64-58 lead, NIU's Stephanie Raymond broke yet another scoring rut with a layup to get her team within four points at the 1:25 mark. Corbin sealed the win with a pair of free throws with just 35 seconds left giving BSU a six-point advantage and Bajorek added two more with under 15 second on the clock.
Besides the game-high 17-points of Cotton, Stephanie Douglas and Corbin added 11 each. Lisa Rusche, in her first collegiate start, led BSU on the boards with six.
"I am just really proud of my players," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "This was definitely a true team effort. To have two starters out and still come out of here with a win against a good Northern Illinois team is fantastic. Erica Cotton had a career day and Stephanie (Douglas) and Kelsey (Corbin) stepped up as well."
Ball State continues a two-game road journey Wednesday with a date at Miami.
