Ball State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Falls to First-Place Bowling Green
February 11, 2006 | Women's Basketball
It was a tale of two halves Saturday at Worthen Arena. In the first half, host Ball State had the upper hand and controlled most of the first 20 minutes. In the second half, it was the visitors -- Mid-American Conference leader Bowling Green -- who had the momentum and left Muncie with a 72-60 victory. The loss drops the third-place Cardinals two games out of second place and four behind MAC West Division leader Eastern Michigan.
Even though Ball State looked the visitor -- dressed in its away black uniforms for the "Black Out the Falcons" promotion -- the Cardinals played anything like a guest in the first half. BSU and Bowling Green traded leads and then dueled to a trio of ties over the first seven minutes before the Cardinals shell-shocked the Falcons with a 12-0 run to jump out to a 30-17 advantage with 7:42 left in the period. The 12-0 run began with a 3-pointer by Tina Bolte and was capped by the same shot -- this time by Erica Cotton.
Ball State enjoyed its double-digit lead for the next three minutes before Liz Honegger nailed a long bomb from the top of the key to trim Bowling Green's deficit to 32-25 with just over five minutes remaining. Another 3-pointer by Megan Thorburn and a layup by Ali Mann got the Falcons within two points at 32-30. After Kelsey Corbin converted a layup a the one-minute mark, Mann matched her to end the half with Ball State on top 36-32.
Bowling Green opened the second half scoring seven unanswered points to go up 39-36. A layup by Mann at the 17:35 mark gave the Falcons a lead they would not relinquish. Ball State fought back twice to get within one point -- the final time on a layup by Cotton to trim the Cardinals' deficit to 45-44 with 12:35 remaining. Bowling Green responded with a 15-0 run, which culminated with a 60-44 lead with 7:35 to play. The Falcons maintained their double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
"The first half was probably our best executed of the season," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "We did a great job defensively and worked the ball inside and out. I was really proud of our play. The first six minutes of the second half was just a killer for us. We were not remotely close to the same team in the first half. Bowling Green is a great team, but we really beat ourselves tonight."
Cotton led a trio of Ball State players who scored in double figures with her 16-point effort. Raechelle Hampton came off the bench to add 14, while Bolte chipped in with 11. Julie DeMuth had a team-leading nine rebounds as BSU posted a 44-37 advantage on the boards. Bowling Green's Mann led all scorers with 18 points. Kate Achter and Honegger had 15 and 14, respectively.
Ball State shot 44.8 percent in the first half, but finished the game with a .365 (23-of-63) mark, including 7-of-23 3-pointers. Bowling Green converted 44.6 (29-of-65) percent of its field goals. The Falcons had 11 turnovers to BSU's 18.
With the loss, Ball State drops to 13-9 overall and 6-5 in MAC play. Bowling Green improves to 20-2 overall and remains unbeaten in the conference at 11-0. BSU continues a three-game homestand Wednesday when it hosts Toledo. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.
