Ball State University Athletics
Women's Basketball Falls at Kent
February 08, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Kent jumped out to a 5-0 lead and looked like it might run away with the game after Ball State could not convert on its first four possessions. Julie DeMuth got the Cardinals on the scoreboard with back-to-back free throws 2:19 into the evening's action. After the Flashes went up 9-2, Ball State responded with a 10-2 run and went up 12-11 on Tina Bolte's long bomb at the 9:06 mark.
The Cardinals maintained their lead until the Flashes' La'kia Stewart hit three unanswered field goals to put KSU back on top 21-19 with 3:58 left in the period. Kent State built back a five-point lead at 27-22 1:18 left, but Becca Bajorek's layup with 33 seconds trimmed the Cardinals deficit to 27-24. BSU was unable to convert the final possession as the period ended 27-24.
Ball State struggled from the field over the first 20 minutes converting just 7-of-27 tries for a 25.9 percent. BSU was 3-of-7 from 3-point range. The Cardinals took advantage of eight free tosses, making seven of them. Kent State was 13-of-33 (.394) from the field in the first half and 1-of-3 from the line.
DeMuth scored a team-leading seven points plus had 13 rebounds in the first half. Stewart led all scorers in the first period with 12 points. She added nine points. The Flashes played nearly all of the first half without MAC Player of the Year candidate Lindsay Shearer, who went to the bench with two fouls just 4:36 into the game.
Kent State opened the second half with three quick points to go up 30-24, but Ball State cut its deficit back to one with a jumper by DeMuth followed by 3-pointer by Bolte. After Bajorek put BSU on top 33-32 with her layup at the 16:48 mark, the hosts responded with an 8-0 run -- all on scores by Shearer -- to take a 40-33 advantage at the 15:15 mark. The closest BSU would get from that point was within four points at 40-36 after a trey from Erica Cotton with 14:08 on the clock.
The Flashes answered immediately with an 8-0 run to take a double-digit advantage of 48-36 with 11:21 remaining. A late 5-0 run got the Cardinals within seven points with just over five minutes left, but Kent State closed out the evening scoring 13 of the game's final 20 points for the 68-55 win.
DeMuth registered her eighth double-double of the season -- the 11th of her career -- with 12 points and 18 rebounds. The 18 rebounds ties her career high achieved last year versus Kent State. Bolte led the team with 15 points, marking her 10th double-figure scoring effort of the season. BSU shot just 32 percent (19-of-60) from the field, including 7-of-19 from beyond the arc, plus was 10-of-13 from the line.
KSU got 20 points from Shearer. Stewart had 12 points and 15 rebounds, while Malika Willoughby chipped in with 12 points of her own. The Flashes shot slightly better than the Cardinals at 40 percent (24-of-60) and were 17-of-22 from the line.
"I told the team we would not be able to beat a team like Kent if we were going to score in the 50's," BSU head coach Tracy Roller said. "They are certainly one of the top defending teams in the conference, but I didn't feel like we had an attack mentality tonight."
BSU, whose winning streak ends at three games, drops to 13-8 overall and into third place in the MAC's West Division at 6-4. Kent State improves to 14-7 and 7-3. The Cardinals return to Muncie Saturday to face defending regular-season and tournament champion Bowling Green. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.
