Ball State University
Valparaiso
Women's Basketball Suffers loss to Valparaiso Sunday
December 18, 2011 | Women's Basketball
Ball State's women's basketball team suffered a 67-53 defeat to Valparaiso Sunday in Worthen Arena. With the loss, the Cardinals fell to 5-6 overall and the Crusaders improved to 3-7 on the season.
After playing to a 20-20 tie in the first half, Ball State went on an 8-0 run behind three pointers from Brandy Woody and Jordan Huber and a two-point basketbal by Katie Murphy.
The Cardinals maintained the lead the rest of the half and went into the break with a 35-31 advantage.
After tying the game four minutes into the second half at 35-35, Valparaiso continued its run and went out to a 41-35 advantage with 12:40 left in the contest.
The Cardinals ended the drought and scored their first bucket of the second half at the 12:39 mark to make it 41-37, but Valaraiso responded with another 14-4 run to take a 55-41 advantage with just over six minutes left in the contest.
A pair of free throws by Amber Crago with 2:15 left in the game brought the Cardinals within 59-48, but an offensive foul on Ball State followed by a layup by the Crusaders gave Valparaiso a 61-48 edge with 1:30 to play.
Jazmin Hitchens led the Cardinals with 14 points, while adding four rebounds. Shelbie Justice added nine points, while Brittany Carter added eight points.
Ball State managed a 36 percent shooting mark in the contest, while Valparaiso shot 47.8 percent from the field.
Ball State will play at Wisconsin-Green Bay Tuesday before returning home for a New Year's Eve home game vs. Marshall at 4 p.m.
