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MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State women's basketball team continues its regular season stretch run Saturday afternoon as the Cardinals face Eastern Michigan in a pivotal Mid-American Conference West Division battle. Game time is set for 2 p.m. at the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, Mich.
The Cardinals enter the game 11-14 on the season and 7-5 in MAC play as they sit just one game behind both EMU and Western Michigan for first place in the MAC-West Division. The Cardinals have four regular season games remaining to gain ground on the divisional leaders, including contests against both teams tied for the top spot.
“The battle between Ball State and Eastern Michigan is always an intense rivalry,” acting head coach Lisa McDonald said. “They (EMU) are very tough to play at home and we know that every game at this point of the season is of the utmost importance.”
The Cardinals are coming off of a 27-point victory over Toledo in their last outing to pull back within one game of the top spot in the division. Junior guard Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington) paced the Cardinals' high-flying attack as she nearly pulled off a triple-double. Green scored 17 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out eight assists against Toledo. On the season, she is averaging a team-high 12.9 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per contest.
Senior forward Julie DeMuth (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) is second on the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game and second in rebounding at 6.3 boards per contest. She is coming off of a 10-point effort in just 17 minutes against Toledo. Classmate Lisa Rusche (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) is third on the team in scoring at 11.0 points and tallied 14 points off of the bench against the Rockets.
Freshman forward Emily Maggert (Paris, Ill./Paris) is fourth on the team in scoring at 9.2 points per game overall on the season. She is second in scoring against MAC opponents at 13.1 points per game and is shooting 57.7 percent (60-of-104) from the field in conference play.
Sophomore guard Audrey McDonald (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) is fifth on the team in scoring at 8.9 points per game. She is shooting 39.9 percent (57-of-143) from three-point land this season. Junior guard Kiley Jarrett (Bloomington, Ind./North) adds 8.3 points per game and is second on the team in assists with 100.
Saturday's game is the 56th meeting all-time between Ball State and Eastern Michigan. The Cardinals trail the all-time series by a 24-31 margin but have won the past three meetings. Ball State swept the season series last year against EMU and picked up a 71-64 victory earlier this season.
In the season's first meeting, Green paced the attack as she posted a double-double with a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds. She connected on eight-of-14 from the field, including two-of-three from three-point land.
Ball State broke out of the game on fire as it jumped out to an 18-1 lead just seven minutes in. The Cardinals scored the first 12 points of the game as Eastern Michigan was held without a point for almost five minutes. The Cardinals started the game hitting seven of their first 13 shots, while EMU conversely started the game missing its first 12 shots from the field.
Eastern Michigan rallied back and took the lead early in the second half as it scored the first nine points of the half. The Cardinals secured the victory with a 17-6 run over the final eight-plus minutes to secure the victory. Ball State's limited the Eagles to just two-of-13 shooting in the final 8:41 of the game to bring home the hard fought victory.
Rusche finished the game with 12 points and six rebounds while DeMuth added 12 points and nine rebounds. EMU was paced by guard Amanda Compton who scored 21 points off of the bench on the strength of seven three-pointers.
Eastern Michigan enters the game with a 14-10 overall record and an 8-4 mark in Mid-American Conference play. The Eagles are currently tied for first place with Western Michigan atop the MAC-West Division. Eastern Michigan is coming off of a 67-61 victory at WMU on Tuesday night. The Eagles have won four out of their last five as they are averaging 66.0 points per game on the season.
Leading the charge offensively is sophomore guard Alyssa Pittman as she averages 13 points per game. She is coming off of an 18-point effort against WMU off of the bench on Tuesday. Senior center Colleen Russell, the tallest player in the MAC at 6-5, is averaging 12.0 points per game this season. She scored 16 points at WMU in her last outing.
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