Ball State University Athletics
Second Half Propels Cardinals Past Rockets
February 15, 2006 | Women's Basketball
It was a tale of two halves, part two. In this edition, however, it was Ball State who owned the second half and, as a result, scored a 64-49 victory over Toledo in a key Mid-American Conference West Division matchup Wednesday at Worthen Arena in Muncie. Becca Bajorek and Kelsey Corbin tallied 16 points apiece as the Cardinals snapped a two-game losing skid to improve to 14-9 overall and 7-5 in league play. Toledo, meanwhile, dropped to 9-13 overall and 4-8 in the MAC.
In direct contrast to Saturday's game against Bowling Green when Ball State came out firing on all cylinders in the first half and then was unable to handle the same from the Falcons in the second half, it was Toledo who came out in convincing fashion in this contest.
After a combined seven scoreless possessions, Corbin found Bajorek under the net for a fast break layup to put Ball State on the score board first at the 17:47 mark. Two ties and a lead change later, Toledo's Crystal Young converted a layup to give Toledo a lead -- 10-8 -- it would not relinquish for the remainder of the period. The Rockets utilized an 8-0 run to go up 25-15 with 4:59 remaining. UT took its largest lead of the game -- 30-18 -- with 53 seconds remaining, but Corbin closed out the half with two straight jumpers -- one as time expired -- to put the Cardinals within eight points at 30-22 at the halfway break.
Though Ball State was able to convert on just 9-of-25 field goal tries over the first 20 minutes, it was a much different story in the second half. A 6-2 run got BSU within two pints at 32-30. After trading baskets, Raechelle Hampton hit the front end of two free throws to knot the game at 36-36 with 12:01 left. After a jumper by Toledo's Allison Lindborg, Porchia Green tied the score with her layup and began an explosive 16-0 BSU run which culminated with Kiley Jarrett's long 3-point baseline jumper to give the Cardinals a 52-38 lead at the 6:53 mark.
At the eight-minute media timeout, Ball State had converted 9-of-13 field goal tries compared to just 3-of-11 for its visitors. The hot-handed Cardinals maintained double-digit leads for the rest of the game.
Besides Corbin and Bajorek, Julie DeMuth came off the bench to notch her ninth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Porchia Green, who made her third collegiate start, was second on the boards with seven. Corbin dished off a team-high five assists, while Green added four.
Young and Danielle Bishop had 13 points apiece for Toledo. Diane Reindl pulled down seven boards to lead the Rockets. UT shot just 35.2 (19-of-54) for the game, including a cold 6-of-22 in the second half. Ball State converted 59.1 (13-of-22) in the second half to finish with a 46.8 (22-of-47) percentage from the field. The Cardinals also converted 18-of-27 free throws and managed a 41-28 advantage on the boards.
"I like this tale a lot better than Saturday's," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "We still need to play 40 minutes of basketball, but we are heading in the right direction. We got caught standing too much in the first half, so we switched and ran a lot more motion in the second. Becca and Kelsey played great games. I am really happy for Becca. She has worked so hard to get back and she is definitely there."
Ball State wraps up a three-game home stand Saturday when it hosts Western Michigan at 7 p.m. The Broncos are in second place in the West Division, two games in front of the Cardinals.
