Ball State University Athletics
Cardinals Close Out Regular Season Victorious
February 28, 2006 | Women's Basketball
When Tina Bolte nailed a long 3-pointer 15 seconds into the game, it set the tone for the entire 40 minutes. The game belonged to Ball State and, in the end, the Cardinals walked away with a 65-53 victory over Northern Illinois Tuesday at Worthen Arena in the regular-season finale. The win solidified BSU's No. 3 seed in the West Division in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament. The Cardinals host Akron, the No. 6 seed from the East, Saturday at 2 p.m.
After Bolte's initial bucket, Ball State converted its next four shots before missing more than five minutes into the game. Two more bombs by Bolte put Ball State up 15-7 with 14:07 left in the period. Northern Illinois cut its deficit to four points after a Whitney Lowe layup at the 10:37 mark, but BSU responded with back-to-back buckets by Raechelle Hampton and Stephanie Douglas to build its lead back up to eight points. The Cardinals boosted their advantage to double digits after an old-fashioned 3-point play by Lisa Rusche to go up 23-13 at the 6:53 mark. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the period before the Cardinals took a 31-22 lead into the break.
Ball State cooled down from the field slightly toward the end of the period, but finished the first 20 minutes with a 45.8 (11-of-24) field goal mark. The Huskies, however, were a cooler 37 (10-of-27) percent. NIU posted a 22-12 rebounding advantage, but had five more turnovers -- 12-5 -- than its host.
Ball State opened the second half with a layup by Hampton. After a jumper by the Huskies' Jennifer Uptmor, Porchia Green hit a long 3-pointer to give BSU a 36-24 lead at the 19:12 mark. From there, Northern Illinois staged its greatest threat with a 12-0 run, including six points by Kristin Wiener to knot the score at 36-36 with 13:32 remaining in the game. Rusche broke a six-minute scoring drought with her putback at the 13:14 mark, which began a 9-0 run for the Cardinals, who were never threatened from that point. BSU maintained double-digit leads the rest of the way, going up by a game-high 15 points on back-to-back free throws by Rushe with 5:36 left in the contest.
"This was a great win for us," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "We got lucky to get Northern Illinois after a tough Sunday-Tuesday swing for them. They were fatigued and it was certainly to our advantage. I thought our guards -- in particular Erica Cotton and Porchia Green -- did a great job defensively on them, especially on Stephanie Raymond. Tina got hot early and that really set the tone for us. Lisa Rusche had another great night for us, too."
Bolte led a trio of Ball State players who scored in double figures with her 16 points, including a 4-of-6 showing from 3-point range. Julie DeMuth added 13 points for her 19th double-figure scoring effort of the season. Rusche notched her second double-digit scoring mark of the season with 10 points plus tied DeMuth for game-high honors with five boards. Kelsey Corbin dished off a team-best six assists. Ten of the 11 Ball State players who saw action scored at least two points in the game.
Northern Illinois' Wiener led all scorers with 24 points. Raymond added 12 plus dished off a game-high eight assists. Jamie Wilson led the Huskies on the boards with six.
BSU converted 40 (20-of-50) percent of its field goals, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range. The Cardinals also made good on 19-of-25 free throws (76 percent). NIU was held to a 37.3 (22-of-59) percentage from the field and a frigid .071 (1-of-14) from beyond the arc. The Huskies did, however, post a dominating 46-29 lead on the boards.
Ball State wraps up its regular season with a 16-11 overall and 9-7 MAC mark, while Northern Illinois finishes at 11-16 overall and 7-9 in the league.
