MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State women's basketball team opens its home portion of the Mid-American Conference schedule Tuesday night as the Cardinals host MAC-West Division rival Eastern Michigan at Worthen Arena at 7 p.m. The game is a meeting between the two West Division teams with 2-0 marks in MAC play so far this season.
“We are excited about opening up our home portion of MAC play tomorrow night,” acting head coach Lisa McDonald said. “We have built some great momentum coming off two huge road victories to start conference play and we hope to carry that over to the Eastern Michigan game.”
The Cardinals enter Tuesday's game with a 6-9 record and a 2-0 mark in MAC play after picking up back-to-back road victories at Western Michigan and Northern Illinois to start conference play. Freshman forward Emily Maggert (Paris, Ill./Paris) leads the Cardinals in MAC play through two games as she is averaging 20 points per game and shooting 77.8 percent from the field.
Junior guard Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington) is averaging 17.5 points per game in MAC play this season and a team-high 12.8 points per game overall. She is coming off of a 20-point effort at Northern Illinois last Saturday. Senior forward Julie DeMuth (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) is coming off of a 12-point performance in just 20 minutes of action at NIU. She is second on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game.
Junior guard Kiley Jarrett (Bloomington, Ind./North) is averaging 14 points per game in conference play this season and posted a career-high 19 points at Western Michigan in the MAC opener. Sophomore guard Audrey McDonald (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) scored 14 points against NIU and is averaging 9.3 points per game on the year.
Senior forward Lisa Rusche (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) paces the Cardinals on the glass as she is tied with DeMuth and Green for tops in rebounding at 6.0 boards per game.
Tuesday's game is the 55th meeting all-time between Ball State and Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals trail the all-time series by a 23-31 mark, but swept the season series last year on their way to winning the MAC-West Division. The victories last season snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Cardinals against the Eagles.
The Cardinals took home a 55-46 victory in Ypsilanti, Mich., in the first meeting. Ball State claimed the series sweep with a 74-73 victory in Worthen Arena that clinched the MAC-West Division in front of a record crowd of 4,711. The regular season series sweep was just the fifth time that Ball State has swept Eastern Michigan and the first time since the 1995-96 season.
DeMuth led the Cardinals' attack last season as she averaged 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Former Cardinal Kelsey Corbin averaged 12 points and seven assists per game against EMU. Rusche and Green each added 10 points per game against the Eagles.
“Eastern Michigan is a very talented team,” McDonald said. “The EMU-Ball State game has become a very heated rivalry the past couple of years. We expect that intensity to continue tomorrow night and we are glad to be home playing in front of our fans in this type of a game.”
Eastern Michigan enters the game with an 8-6 overall record and is tied with the Cardinals in the MAC-West with a 2-0 mark. The Eagles have picked up MAC wins at home to Northern Illinois and Toledo.
The Eagles are averaging 65.4 points per game this season while holding opponents to a MAC-low 57.4 points per game against. Leading the way offensively for EMU is sophomore guard Alyssa Pittman. She averages 15.4 points per game and has connected on 39.4 percent from three-point land.
Guard Canea Williams in second on the team in scoring at 11.2 points per game. Center Colleen Russell is third on the team in scoring at 9.1 points per game and is coming off of a 20-point effort last time out against Toledo.
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