KALAMAZOO, Mich. ? The Ball State University women's basketball team (9-6, 2-0 MAC) earned a 70-67 victory over Western Michigan (4-11, 0-2 MAC) Saturday afternoon in University Arena. The Cardinals have now opened the season 2-0 in the Mid-American Conference for three years straight.
Junior guard Audrey McDonald (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo) led the Cardinals with 19 points. McDonald made five three-pointers for the game. Junior forward Danielle Gratton (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) chipped in 16 points while senior guard Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington) had 13 points. Green also scored her 1,000th in today's game. Freshman forward Amber Clark (Huntington, Ind./North) netted 10 points going 5-of-6 from the field in 14 minutes.
Ball State began the second half on an 8-0 run to come within two (45-43) at the 15:31 mark. The Broncos would go ahead 51-43 with 11:46 remaining. Green would score her 1,000th point with 10:07 left on the clock making her the 19th member of the Ball State women's basketball 1,000th point club.
BSU continued chipping away at WMU's lead cutting it to 57-54 after a layup from Clark with 6:56 to play.
Back-to-back baskets in the paint from Gratton brought the Cardinals to within one, 59-58. Clark hit a layup with 2:07 remaining to give Ball State its first lead of the second half, 59-58.
Clark would again come through down under to increase the Cardinals lead to 68-65. With 7.2 seconds remaining McDonald knocked down two free throws and Green would make a defensive play at the other end of the court sealing the victory for Ball State.
WMU rattled off two straight baskets at the start of the game to take an early 5-0 lead. The Cardinals would then shoot 7-of-8 from the three-point line sparked by senior guard Porchia Green (Indianapolis, Ind./Arlington) at the 17:04 mark.
Ball State's biggest lead of the first half was 25-18 with 11:16 remaining. A few short scoring runs by the Broncos allowed them to take back their lead 32-21 with 5:27 on the clock. WMU would end the half with a 10-point edge over BSU.
At the half Ball State had only scored four points to Western Michigan's 16 in the paint. BSU shot 53.3 percent from behind the arc.
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