LIVE AUDIO
LIVE STATS (Courtesy Of NIU)
MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State women's basketball team continues its Mid-American Conference opening week on the road as the Cardinals travel to DeKalb, Ill., to face West Division foe Northern Illinois. Game time is set for 3 p.m. (ET) at the Convocation Center.
“We are excited about getting back on the road in a tough MAC game against Northern Illinois,” acting head coach Lisa McDonald said. “We want to build on our strong second half from our victory at Western Michigan and are looking forward to putting together 40 minutes of Ball State Basketball Saturday.”
The Cardinals (5-9, 1-0 MAC) are coming off of an 84-70 victory at Western Michigan on Wednesday evening in their MAC season opener. The Cardinals used a strong second half effort to defeat WMU as they used a 20-2 run to break the game open. Freshman forward Emily Maggert (Paris, Ill./Paris) highlighted the attack as she scored a career-high 24 points as she was nine-of-10 shooting from the field.
Junior guard Kiley Jarrett (Bloomington, Ind./North) also turned in a career-high effort as she scored 19 points. She was a career-best five-of-seven shooting from three-point land in the victory. Classmate Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington) just fell short of a triple-double in the victory as she scored 15 points, dished out a career-high 10 assists and grabbed eight rebounds.
Saturday's game is the 32nd meeting all-time between Ball State and Northern Illinois. The Cardinals lead the all-time series by a 19-12 margin. Ball State has won eight straight meetings against NIU and has won 13 out of the last 14 contests.
Last season, the Cardinals completed the trifecta as they took home three victories against Northern Illinois. Ball State took home an 81-72 victory at home, an 81-70 victory in DeKalb and an 83-72 victory in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Sophomore guard Audrey McDonald (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) paced the Cardinals' attack against NIU as she averaged 15.7 points per game in the three contests. She connected on 57.1 percent (eight-of-14) from three-point land and 85 percent (17-of-20) from the charity stripe.
Senior forward Julie DeMuth (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) added 14.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game against the Huskies. She hit 86.4 percent (19-of-22) from the free throw line against NIU as Ball State was 72-of-85 (.847) from the line as a team. Conversely, NIU only went to the line 44 times last season against the Cardinals. Green added 13.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while Kelsey Corbin chipped in 15.0 points per game.
Northern Illinois enters today's game with a 4-10 overall record and an 0-1 mark in MAC play. The Huskies have dropped three straight games with losses at IUPUI, Illinois State and Eastern Michigan. NIU is averaging 54.8 points per game while allowing 66.8 points per game against.
The Huskies are led by guard Kylie York as she averages 10.7 points per game. Jessie Wilcox, a preseason All-MAC selection, averages 9.8 points per game and has connected on 51.9 percent from three-point land.
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