Ball State University
Bowling Green
Women?s Basketball Falls Short at #17 Bowling Green, 86-76
February 08, 2007 | Women's Basketball
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio ? The Ball State women's basketball saw its upset attempt fall short as the Cardinals dropped an 86-76 loss to 17th ranked Bowling Green on Wednesday night at Anderson Arena.
The Cardinals fall to 17-4 overall on the season and 8-2 in Mid-American Conference action, but still remain alone atop the MAC-West Division with a one-game lead over
“I am proud of the effort and fight our team showed tonight as they battled to the very end,” head coach Tracy Roller said. “We weren't able to match BG's first half run and were forced to rally for most of game. We had an opportunity to do something special tonight, but it just wasn't in the cards for us.”
Senior Kelsey Corbin (
Green turned in an inspired performance as she finished with a career-high 24 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out four assists and tallied a game-high three steals. She was nine-of-16 from the field and five-of-seven from the line on the night as she sparked the first half with 15 points.
The Cardinals came out of the gate and jumped out to an early 10-6 lead, courtesy of an 8-2 run. Green keyed the spurt as she scored eight of the Cardinals' 10 points, including six straight in a two minute span.
The Cardinals were able to battle back and pull within five points at 34-29 with an 11-3 run. Green again was the spark to the run as she scored seven points, including an old-fashioned three-point play.
The Cardinals had an opportunity to pull within two before the half but a three-pointer rattled out and the Falcons countered with a long-range shot of their own to go into the break ahead, 39-31. The Cardinals connected on 14-of-36 (38.9%) from the field and they missed on all six of their three-point shots.
The teams came out of the break and traded baskets back-and-forth for the first eight minutes of the half as Corbin started to warm up. She scored 10 of the Cardinals first 14 points in the second half as she was able to find range with her jumper. The Falcons broke open a nine-point game with an 11-2 run to take a 63-45 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
The Cardinals continued to fight as they narrowed the game to single digits on a couple of occasions only to see
Green started the spurt by hitting a pair of free throws and freshman Audrey McDonald (
The Cardinals finished the night 26-of-60 (43.3%) from the field for the game after hitting 50 percent of their shots in the second half. The Cardinals also were strong from the free throw line as they finished 22-of-26 (84.6%). BSU struggled from long-range as it was a season-low two-of-15 (13.3%) from three-point land in the loss. McDonald finished the night with 10 points, while junior forward Julie DeMuth (
BGSU finished the night 27-of-51 (52.9%) from the field in the victory and was 25-of-61 (80.6%) from the charity stripe. The win was the 14th straight for
Flynn finished the night with 18 points off of the bench while Ali Mann added 15 points. Liz Honegger chipped in 17 points as the Falcons took advantage of the Cardinals depleted front line.
The loss is the Cardinals' first road loss this season in MAC play as they had won their first four road conference games of the season. The Cardinals, who have five players average double figures on the year, had two players score 20-plus points in the same game for the first time this season and the first time since DeMuth and Corbin accomplished the feat last year at
The Cardinals will be back in action on Sunday afternoon as they play host to MAC-East Division foe
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