MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State women's basketball team wraps up the road portion of the 2007-08 regular season Wednesday night as the Cardinals travel to Mid-American Conference West Division foe Central Michigan. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Rose Arena.
“We have a challenging week ahead of us,” acting head coach Lisa McDonald said. “Central Michigan is playing with a lot of confidence and playing with something to prove. They (CMU) play hard for 40 minutes and we will have to match their energy and intensity all game long.”
Ball State enters Wednesday's game with a 12-14 overall record and an 8-5 mark in MAC play. The Cardinals currently sit in second place one game behind divisional leader Western Michigan with three games remaining in the regular season. The Cardinals have the opportunity to earn anywhere from the top seed to the fourth seed from the MAC-West Division in the upcoming MAC Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Cardinals are coming off of an 11-point victory at then MAC-West leading Eastern Michigan on Saturday afternoon to complete the season series sweep of the Eagles. Junior guard Kiley Jarrett (Bloomington, Ind./North) led the Cardinals' attack as she scored 16 points and dished out nine assists.
Senior forward Lisa Rusche (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) added 11 points, including seven in the Cardinals' 16-6 run to close the game and secure the victory. Sophomore guard Audrey McDonald (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) chipped in 12 points on the strength of four three-pointers in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Junior guard Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington) leads the team in scoring this season as she averages 12.7 points per game. Green also lead the team in rebounding (7.0), assists (117) and steals (41). Senior forward Julie DeMuth (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) adds 11.3 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per contest, both of which rank second on the team.
Rusche is third on the team in scoring at 11.0 points per game and in rebounding at 6.2 caroms per contest. Freshman forward Emily Maggert (Paris, Ill./Paris) is fourth on the team in scoring at 9.4 points per game and is coming off of a 14-point performance at EMU. She is shooting 52.3 percent from the field on the season overall and 59.8 percent in MAC contests.
Wednesday's game is the 56th meeting all-time between Ball State and Central Michigan. The Cardinals trail the all-time series by a 26-29 margin but have won 14 out of the last 15 meetings. At one point, the Cardinals were 12-28 all-time against the Chippewas prior to their recent success.
Earlier this season, the Cardinals picked up an 82-57 victory over Central Michigan at Worthen Arena. The Cardinals shot 54.4 percent (31-of-57) from the field in the victory, including 50 percent (10-of-20) from three-point land.
The Cardinals had four players score in double figures and six players score at least eight points in the all-around team victory. Ball State also turned 20 Central Michigan turnovers into 28 points as it got out in transition against the Chippewas.
McDonald came out of the gate firing on all cylinders as she hit her first six three-point attempts in the game to set a new career-high for triples in a game. She finished the night six-of-seven from long range in the game as her only miss came with just six minutes remaining.
Jarrett turned in a strong performance as well as she scored eight points and dished out a career-high 12 assists. Rusche came just shy of a double-double with 16 points and eight rebounds. She finished the game six-of-11 shooting from the field and was a perfect four-of-four from the charity stripe. Green added 14 points and seven rebounds in the victory.
Central Michigan was led by forward Britni Houghton as she scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Guard Angel Chan chipped in 11 points off of the bench on the strength of three three-pointers.
The Chippewas enter tonight's game with a 6-19 record overall and a 2-10 mark in Mid-American Conference play. CMU has been playing its best basketball of the season lately as it is 2-2 in the last four games, including an overtime loss at MAC-West Division leading Western Michigan Saturday afternoon.
Central Michigan has picked up recent road wins at Buffalo and Kent State, two teams which have defeated the Cardinals this season. The Chippewas are led in scoring by Houghton as she averages 12.2 points per game. Guard Angel Chan is second in scoring at 11.5 points per game and has attempted a team-high 133 three-pointers this season. She is coming off of a career-high 27 points against WMU as she hit six three-pointers.
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