Women?s Hoops Takes Home Hard Fought Victory At EMU

Saturday, February 23

Ypsilanti, Mich.

2 p.m.

Ball State University

Eastern Michigan

Women's Basketball At Indiana In Preseason WNIT

Women?s Hoops Takes Home Hard Fought Victory At EMU

February 23, 2008 | Women's Basketball

By: Ball State Athletics

YPSILANTI, Mich. ? The Ball State women's basketball used a strong start and a composed finish to pick up a pivotal 64-53 Mid-American Conference victory over Eastern Michigan at the Convocation Center Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals improve to 12-14 overall and 8-5 in MAC play and have now won four straight against the Eagles in the all-time series.

The victory moved the Cardinals into a tie for second place in the MAC-West Division with EMU with the Cardinals holding the tiebreaker courtesy of the season series sweep. Ball State is also just one game behind MAC-West leader Western Michigan with three games remaining in the regular season.

“I am proud of our team toady as they battled against a very tough opponent on the road,” acting head coach Lisa McDonald said. “We came out with a great start to set the tempo and did a awesome job keeping our poise and composure as Eastern Michigan made a run in the second half.”

Junior guard Kiley Jarrett (Bloomington, Ind./North) paced four Cardinals in double figures in the victory as she scored 16 points and came just shy of a double-double with nine assists. Jarrett secured the victory down the stretch as she nailed all eight of her free throws as EMU tried to foul to extend the game.

Freshman forward Emily Maggert (Paris, Ill./Paris) and senior forward Lisa Rusche (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) provided the scoring down low as they combined for 25 points. Maggert scored 14 points, including 10 in the second half, as she connected on seven-of-eight from the field. Rusche added 11 points off of the bench as she hit five-of-10 shots from the field. She scored seven points in a 10-2 Cardinal run late in the second half after EMU had narrowed the Cardinals' lead to two points.

“Kiley did a great job at running the team today and was strong from the line in the second half,” McDonald said. “Rusche made plays on both ends of the court and she stepped up down the stretch when her team needed her.”

The Cardinals came out of the gate on fire as they hit their first three three-pointers on their way to an 11-2 lead just three minutes into the game. Sophomore guard Audrey McDonald (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) hit her first two three during the run and Jarrett added a third three-pointer in the fast start.

Eastern Michigan (14-11, 8-5 MAC) regrouped and pulled within three points at 11-8 as Alyssa Pittman nailed back-to-back three-pointers. Ball State responded to the adversity in style as it scored 13 straight points on its way to a 17-1 run to take a 28-9 lead. The 17-1 run almost matched the Cardinals' 18-1 run against Eastern Michigan earlier this season at Worthen Arena.

The Cardinals leaned on their long range shots during the run as McDonald nailed two more three-pointers and freshman guard Shannon Klei (Coldspring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) added another three-pointer to key the spurt. The Cardinals connected on six of their first eight three-pointers in the game to take the 19-point first half lead just 12 minutes into the game.

The two teams settled in over the next four minutes and traded baskets back and forth. The Cardinals took a 34-15 lead as Jarrett scored on a drive and Maggert hit a jumper to put the lead back to 19 points. Eastern Michigan scored the final six points of the half and held the Cardinals without a point over the final four minutes to head into the locker room down 34-21.

Ball State finished the first half shooting 46.4 percent (13-of-28) from the field and 50 percent (six-of-12) from three-point land. McDonald paced the high flying attack as she scored 12 quick points and connected on four-of-seven from three-point land in the opening half. Jarrett added seven points and five assists in the first half.

Eastern Michigan was held to just 36 percent (nine-of-25) shooting from the field and just 20 percent (two-of-10) from long range. Pittman led the Eagles with eight points off the bench while Colleen Russell chipped in seven points.

The Cardinals came out of the break and got back-to-back baskets from Maggert to force an EMU timeout with a 38-21 lead. The Eagles regrouped and ran off a 16-4 run over the next six minutes to pull within five points at 42-37. Eastern Michigan got a three-pointer from Pittman to narrow the margin to 44-40, but Maggert and junior guard Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington) scored on consecutive possessions to push the lead back up to eight points.

Eastern Michigan kept battling and scored six straight points to pull within two at 48-46 with just over five minutes remaining in the game. The Cardinals needed an answer to stop the EMU momentum and Rusche showed her mettle as she stepped to the forefront.

Rusche scored on a 15-foot jumper to five BSU a four-point lead and turned in a key defensive stop as she came away with a steal. She also beat the Eagles down the court and scored an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Cardinals a 53-46 lead. Jarrett nailed a three-pointer from the corner to push the lead up to 10 points and Rusche scored after an EMU basket to cap a 10-2 run.

Jarrett nailed all six of her free throws in the final minute to seal the victory as the Cardinals closed the game on a 16-6 run. The Cardinals finished the game shooting 49 percent (24-of-49) from the field and 46.7 percent (seven-of-15) from three-point land. Ball State hit just one three-pointer in the second half with Jarrett nailing the long range shot at a pivotal moment during the Cardinals' game-deciding run. The Cardinals also hit 75 percent (nine-of-12) from the charity stripe in the game.

McDonald finished the game with 12 points as she was four-of-eight from three-point land with all of her shots coming in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Green added six points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds as the Cardinals out-rebounded the Eagles 30-28.

Eastern Michigan finished the game shooting 39.6 percent (19-of-48) from the field and just 23.8 percent (five-of-21) from three-point land. The Eagles also hit just 66.7 percent (10-of-15) from the free throw line in the loss.

Russell paced the EMU attack with 15 points as she was six-of-10 from the field but just three-of-seven from the charity stripe. Pittman added 14 points as she was five-of-16 from the field and just four-of-14 from three-point land. Cassie Schrock added 11 points to round out the Eagles in double figures.

The Cardinals will wrap up the road portion of the 2007-08 regular season Wednesday night when they travel to Mount Pleasant, Mich., for a match-up with Central Michigan.

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