MUNCIE, Ind. ? The Ball State women's basketball team got back on the winning track Saturday afternoon as the Cardinals downed Mid-American Conference foe Akron 80-64 on Think Pink Day at Worthen Arena. The victory improves the Cardinals to 10-12 on the season and 6-3 in MAC play. The Cardinals also move back into first place in the MAC-West Division as they are tied with Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan but own the tiebreaker courtesy of head-to-head victories.
The Cardinals flexed their muscles in the post against the Zips as they scored 40 points in the paint and out-rebounded Akron by a 47-20 advantage. The plus-27 advantage on the boards is the highest this season for the Cardinals, while the 20 rebounds for Akron is the lowest output for a Cardinal opponent this year. Four different Cardinals recorded at least eight rebounds in the dominating performance on the glass.
“We put an emphasis all week long on rebounding and coming through with a 47-20 advantage on the glass is awesome,” acting head coach Lisa McDonald said. “We came out in the first half and played great team basketball. Our play in the post was dominating and it is good to get back on the winning track in MAC play.”
Senior forward Lisa Rusche (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) led the attack from the post as she posted her fourth double-double of the season in just 24 minutes. Rusche scored a team-high 20 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds. She connected on nine-of-14 from the field for the game as she scored 16 first half points to lead the Cardinals to the 19-point first half lead.
Junior guard Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington) turned in a strong all-around effort as she scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists. Freshman forward Emily Maggert (Paris, Ill./Paris) continued her stellar rookie campaign as she scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds off of the bench.
The Cardinals came out of the gate and jumped out to a 6-2 lead just two minutes in as Rusche scored on back-to-back possessions. Ball State broke the first half open as it took a 21-6 lead by scoring 15 unanswered points. Maggert started the run as she scored six straight points, while junior forward Dana Moorman (Kettering, Ohio/Kettering Fairmont) added an old-fashioned three-point play.
Akron (7-16, 2-7 MAC) answered with six straight points of its own to narrow the deficit to nine points. The Cardinals responded with a 13-2 run over the next four minutes to take a 34-14 lead and force an Akron timeout. Rusche took her turn at dominating inside as she scored on three straight possessions and scored eight of the Cardinals' points in the run. Moorman continued her strong play as she nailed her first three-pointer of the year from the corner.
The two teams traded baskets down the stretch in the first half before Green scored on a drive to close out the first half scoring with BSU leading 41-22. The Cardinals connected on 52.9 percent (18-of-34) from the field in the first half as they score 32 points in the paint in the opening frame. Rusche was the catalyst as she had 16 first half points while Maggert added nine points.
Akron hit just 33.3 percent (10-of-30) from the field in the first half and just 12.5 percent (one-of-eight) from three-point land. The Zips were out-rebounded by a 28-9 margin in the first half as the highest rebounding Zip was at two boards in the first half.
The Zips came out of halftime and regrouped as they started to chip away at the Cardinals' lead. Akron put on a 14-6 run to pull within 13 points at 53-40 with 12 minutes left in the game. The Cardinals kept Akron at bay as sophomore guard Audrey McDonald (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) nailed a three-pointer from the corner to slow Akron's momentum.
The Cardinals allowed Akron to narrow the lead even more as the Zips posted a 10-2 run to pull within five points at 65-60 with just over three minutes remaining in the game. Ball State responded in a big way as it scored nine straight points and closed the game on a 15-4 run to seal the victory.
Green started the run as she scored on an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Cardinals ahead by eight points. McDonald slammed the door shut on the Zips as she hit back-to-back three-pointers to take the lead back to double figures for good. Junior guard Kiley Jarrett (Bloomington, Ind./North) closed out the Cardinals' scoring as she nailed all six of her free throws in the final minute and a half to secure the victory.
Ball State finished the game shooting 53.6 percent (30-of-56) from the field and 60 percent (six-of-10) from three-point land. The Cardinals nailed five three-pointers in the second half. BSU was 14-of-19 (73.7%) from the line in the victory with 10 of the free throws made coming in the second half.
Jarrett finished with six points, a career-high eight rebounds and six assists in the victory. McDonald added nine points on three-of-four shooting from long range while senior forward Julie DeMuth (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) chipped in eight points. Moorman turned in a career-high nine points in 11 minutes of action as she nailed two three-pointers in the victory.
Akron finished the game shooting 37.7 percent (23-of-61) from the field and 31.3 percent (five-of-16) from long range. The Zips were led by Kara Murphy as she scored 22 points on nine-of-15 shooting from the field. Keyla Snowden added 19 points on seven-of-19 shooting in the loss.
The Cardinals hit the road for four of their next five games starting Wednesday night as they travel to MAC-East rival Miami at 7 p.m.
####
