Ball State University
6-3
Purdue
8-2
WBB Suffers 73-63 Loss At Big Ten Foe Purdue Sunday
December 13, 2015 | Women's Basketball
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Ball State women's basketball team (6-3) suffered a 73-63 road loss at Big Ten foe Purdue (8-2) Sunday afternoon in Mackey Arena.
The Cardinals outscored the Boilermakes in the paint, 32-to-26 and controlled the boards outrebounding Purdue 33-to-27. Ball State shot 49.1 percent from the field and held the Boilermakers to 41.4 shooting from the floor. But the Cardinals 20 turnovers plagued them allowing Purdue to score 14 points off of Ball State's miscues.
For the game, Nathalie Fontaine led all scorers with 26 points marking the fifth straight 20 plus point performance for the senior guard. Renee Bennett chipped in 12 points after going a perfect 6-for-6 from the field.
After falling behind 29-23 at the half, the Cardinals opened the second half with a 7-2 run to come within three (31-28) since the start of the game. After the run, Purdue went back up by 12 (45-33) with 4:08 left in the third quarter. The Cardinals cut it back down to four (47-43) after baskets from Frannie Frazier, Fontaine and Shelby Merder. But the Boilermakers went back up by 10 (54-44) and wouldn't let Ball State get any closer than eight the remainder of the contest.
After an intense first quarter, the Cardinals trailed the Boilermakes by only four (12-8) with Fontaine and Bennett each scoring two baskets apiece in the paint. Purdue then opened the second quarter with a 5-0 run to take an 11-point advantage over Ball State (19-8) with 7:22 remaining in the half. The Boilermakes held Ball State scoreless up until the 6:24 mark before Fontaine would answer with back-to-back baskets for the Cardinals. Ball State still trailed by eight (29-21) with under a minute remaining but a basket from Bennett as time expired made it a six-point ball game at the half.
The Ball State women's basketball team continues its three-game road swing when it travels to Evansville Monday, Dec. 21, at 8 p.m. (EST) in the Ford Center.
