Ball State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Edges Akron in Thriller
January 28, 2006 | Women's Basketball
For the second time this week, Ball State found itself on the heels of a one-point decision. This time, however, the Cardinals were the victor after posting a 67-66 win over Akron Saturday at Worthen Arena. BSU trailed by two points when Tina Bolte knocked down a 3-point basket with just nine seconds on the clock. Like Wednesday's opponent Miami, the Zips had the opportunity to win it. Unlike Miami, they didn't. In the end, it was Ball State with the one-point victory.
Akron scored the first basket of the game, but Bolte's first of two 3-pointers on the day gave the Cardinals a lead they would hold for the remainder of the first half and for all but 80 seconds of the first 14:50 of the second. Ball State built a double-digit lead of 11 points on back-to-back layups by Lisa Rusche and Porchia Green with 9:04 left in the first half. Just when it looked like the Cardinals might run away with the game, Akron unhitched for nine unanswered points to get within two points at 23-21 with 5:28 on the clock. BSU built back an eight-point advantage and, after a jumper by Akron's Niki McCoy with 15 seconds left in the period, took a 34-28 lead into the break.
The Zips opened the second half on a 9-2 run and went up 37-36 on a layup by McCoy with 17:18 left in the game. Erica Cotton put the Cardinals back on top with a long 3-pointer and then Kiley Jarrett, starting in place of the injured Kelsey Corbin, increased the advantage with her own three less than a minute later. BSU maintained its lead for the next 10 minutes until McCoy converted a layup to move her team in front 55-54 at the 5:10 mark. Eighteen seconds later, Jarrett knocked down her third trey of the game to give BSU back the advantage. Back-to-back buckets by McCoy and Jessie Crooks put Akron back on top with under five minutes on the clock. A jumper by Cotton knotted the game for the last time at 59-59 with 3:29 left. From there, Akron took back the lead and built it up to four points -- 65-61-- on a jumper by Jessica Deville with 1:09 remaining.
Cotton converted her second 3-pointer of the game to trim BSU's deficit to 65-64 with 59 seconds on the clock to set up the final minute of the game. Deville followed with a free throw to give Akrona 66-64 lead with 34 seconds left. After a timeout at the 28 second mark, Ball State ran down the clock to nine seconds when Jarrett found Bolte for what would be the winning bucket. Akron had two last-second shots, but neither fell to give Ball State the victory.
"Akron played hard and I told our kids they would," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "It took us 38 minutes, but we finally did everything the way we were suppose to. The last play was executed perfectly. We wanted to get the ball to Tina or Erica for the 3-pointer and win or into Julie for the tie. Kiley did a great job getting the ball to Tina and had a great day overall. She was ready for the challenge of starting and really stepped up her game. I thought Porchia did an excellent job on defense and Erica had another great performance today."
Cotton notched double-digits in scoring for the third-straight game with a career-high 19 points. She was 8-of-13 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range, and added one free throw. In addition, she totaled five rebounds, two assists and two steals in 33 minutes of work. Jarrett also had a career day in scoring with her 13 points. She led the team with eight assists. DeMuth pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Akron got a game-high 22 points from Crooks. Three additional players reached double-digits -- McCoy with 15, Courtney Stewart with 14 and Deville with 11. Krissy Marco grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds as Akron posted a 36-31 advantage on the boards.
The Zips shot a season-high 53.1 (26-of-49) percent from the field, including 5-of-10 treys, and 9-of-11 from the free throw line (.818). BSU converted 40.3 (27-of-67) of its shots -- 8-of-25 from beyond the arc. The Cardinals were 5-of-8 from the line.
Ball State improves to 11-7 overall and 4-3 in Mid-American Conference play, while Akron slips to 3-15 overall and 0-7 in the league. BSU continues play Tuesday when it travels to Ohio for an 8 p.m. showdown with the Bobcats.
