Women?s Basketball Falters At Western Michigan, 81-68

Saturday, February 17

Kalamazoo, Mich.

2 p.m.

Ball State University

Western Michigan

Defense Leads Women?s Basketball Past Eastern Michigan

Women?s Basketball Falters At Western Michigan, 81-68

February 17, 2007 | Women's Basketball

By: Ball State Athletics

KALAMAZOO, Mich. ? The Ball State women's basketball team dropped its first game of the season to a Mid-American Conference West Division team as the Cardinals fell 81-68 to Western Michigan on Saturday afternoon at University Arena. The Cardinals fell behind early and couldn't overcome a double digit deficit in the second half as they lost just their third conference game of the year.

“We ran into a hot team today in Western Michigan and we didn't match their scoring in the first half,” head coach Tracy Roller said. “We fell behind early and played with a lot of heart in the second half to battle back, but the first half deficit was too much to overcome.”

The loss drops the Cardinals to 19-5 overall on the season and 10-3 in MAC play. The Cardinals remain alone in first place in the West Division with a two-game lead over Eastern Michigan and a three-game lead over Northern Illinois with three regular season games to play.

Four Cardinals scored in double figures in the loss, including two double-doubles from juniors Julie DeMuth (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville H.S.) and Lisa Rusche (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills H.S).

DeMuth recorded her ninth double-dip of the season as she scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. She connected on seven-of-16 from the field in the loss and grabbed a game-high eight offensive rebounds. She finished five-of-eight from the free throw line to claim sole possession of the BSU single season record for free throws made. She has now connected on 129 free throws this season and has surpassed Markita Griffin's old record of 125 (1998-99).

Rusche notched her fourth double-double of the season as she scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. The game marked the second time this season that the Cardinals had two players record a double-double, matching the feat from the victory at Central Michigan in January.

The Cardinals struggled from the field in the first half as they connected on just 10-of-29 (34.5%) from the field while the Broncos hit on 15-of-28 (53.6%) from the field. The Cardinals took the first lead in the game at 8-5 as senior guard Kelsey Corbin (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop H.S.) scored on a fast break basket to take the early lead.

Western Michigan (12-15, 5-8 MAC) answered with 11 straight points to take a 14-8 lead as WMU senior guard Carrie Moore, the nation's leading scorer, started to heat up. The Cardinals answered the spurt and pulled within five points at 23-18 as DeMuth scored six straight points for the Cardinals.

The Broncos took their largest lead of the half at 38-22 as they posted a 15-2 run and took advantage of getting to the free throw line. The Cardinals scored six of the last eight points in the half to head into the locker room down, 40-26.

DeMuth led the Cardinals in the first half as she scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Moore paced the Bronco attack as she scored 18 first half points as she was six-of-eight from the field.

The Cardinals came out in the second half and pulled within 10 points on three different occasions but couldn't get over the hump. BSU narrowed the margin to nine points at 73-64 with just under two minutes remaining in the game as sophomore Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington H.S.) and sophomore Kiley Jarrett (Bloomington, Ind./North H.S.) nailed consecutive three-pointers.

Western Michigan sealed the victory from the free throw line as it hit six-of-eight in the final minute and a half. The Broncos finished the game 20-of-28 (71.4%) from the charity stripe and 29-of-56 (51.8%) from the field in the victory.

The Cardinals improved their shooting in the second half as they connected on 40.5 percent (17-of-42) from the field to finish the game 27-of-71 (38%). BSU also hit just three three-pointers in the loss as it was just 27.3 percent shooting from long range. The Cardinals finished the game with a 42-36 advantage on the glass as they out-rebounded the Broncos 28-16 in the second half.

Corbin finished the game with 16 points as she was eight-of-14 from the field as she played 37 minutes. Green rounded out the double figure scorers from the Cardinals as she added 14 points, including two-of-three from three-point land.

Moore led the Broncos in scoring as she finished with 31 points as she was 10-of-19 from the field and eight-of-12 from the charity stripe. Forward Lindsey Brown added a double-double for WMU as she scored 22 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.

The loss snaps the Cardinals' four-game winning streak over the Broncos in the series and marked the first loss for BSU in Kalamazoo since the 2003-04 season.

The Cardinals will return home on Wednesday night as they host MAC West Division foe Central Michigan at Worthen Arena. Game time is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on Comcast Local.

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