Ball State University
Butler
Women's Basketball Suffers 82-67 Loss at Butler
December 31, 2009 | Women's Basketball
In a game the Butler Bulldogs led from start to finish, the Ball State women's basketball team could not find enough firepower to reduce Butler's 13-point halftime lead and fell by an 82-67 margin.
With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 5-7 on the year, while Butler improves to 7-4 on the season.
Behind a 48 percent shooting effort in the first half, Butler built a 42-29 lead at the intermission. While Ball State's defense forced eight Butler turnovers, the Cardinals committed 10 first half miscues of their own.
With 6:31 to play in the game, Butler's Brittany Bowen nailed a long distance three pointer with the shot clock under five seconds to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 66-48.
Despite a career high 26-point performance from Ball State's Emily Maggert, the Cardinals would close the gap to 10 points, 74-64, on a Maggert bucket with 1:21 to play. But a bucket and a pair of free throws from Butler's Melanie Thornton built the Bulldogs lead back to 14 points with less than a minute to play.
Maggert added 12 rebounds to record her eighth double-double of the season to lead Ball State's attack.
Patrice King added 10 points, while Shannon Klei tallied two first half three pointers and added two second half free throws for eight points.
Danielle Gratton led the Cardinals with five assists and two steals in 21 minutes of action, while Amber Crago added six points and five rebounds for Ball State.
The Cardinals limited Butler to a 32 percent shooting mark in the second half for a 40 percent mark for the game, but historic Hinkle Fieldhouse and a pesky Butler defense held Ball State to 42 percent from the field, including 16 percent from three point range.
Ball State will return to action Jan. 6, when the Cardinals host Western Michigan at Worthen Arena in their Mid-American Conference opener. To purchase tickets to the game, go to www.ballstatesports.com or call the ticket office at 1.888.BSU.TICKET.
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