Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
17-14
Middle Tennessee
22-9
WBB Loses First Round Of WNIT At Middle Tennessee
March 20, 2015 | Women's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Ball State women's basketball team (17-13) Women's National Invitation Tournament run was cut short after suffering a 69-58 loss at Middle Tennessee (22-9) Thursday night in the Murphy Center.
The Cardinals WNIT appearance marked their third straight and sixth overall. Ball State head women's basketball coach Brady Sallee, who is in his third season at Ball State, became the only head coach in program history to take the Cardinals to three straight WNITs. He has led the Cardinals to a 17-13 overall record in 2014-15 and the program's sixth MAC West Division title. Sallee becomes only the second head coach in program history to have three consecutive winning seasons -- 17-16 (2012-13), 18-17 (2013-14) and 17-13 (2014-15). The last time it happened was from 2004-07 under former head coach Tracy Roller.
The Cardinals trailed by 20 (56-36) with 11:59 remaining in the second half but free throws from Shelbie Justice and Shelby Merder along with a three-point basket from Moriah Monaco sparked a 19-6 run for the Cardinals to bring Ball State within seven points (62-55) at the 5:24 mark. During that run the Cardinals had help from Jill Morrison who scored eight points and basket also from Renee Bennett.
Middle Tennessee would then close the second half with a 7-2 run which sealed the victory for the Blue Raiders.
Bennett knocked down the first basket to give Ball State an early 2-0 lead over Middle Tennessee in the opening minutes of the ball game. After that, both teams traded baskets and the game would be tied 14-14 for the fourth time at the 10:59 mark. The Blue Raiders put together a 13-2 run to take a commanding 11-point (27-16) advantage over the Cardinals in a span of two minutes. Middle Tennessee continued to attack the basket heading into intermission with a 38-25 lead over Ball State.
Junior Nathalie Fontaine earned her ninth double-double of the season after scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Fontaine now has 18 double-doubles in her career. Bennett registered a 12 point performance while Morrison ended the night with 11. Senior Shelbie Justice ended her career scoring seven points and brought down seven rebounds for the night.
For the game, the Cardinals out-rebounded the Blue Raiders 46-to-32 but Middle Tennessee capitalized on Ball State's miscues, scoring 18 points off of the Cardinals 20 turnovers.
The Ball State women's basketball team earned the automatic berth to compete in the 2015 Postseason WNIT after clinching the Mid-American Conference West Division title outright for the first time since 2008-09, the Cardinals earned a bye as the second seed in last week's MAC Tournament and advanced straight to the semifinals, where they lost to No. 6 seed Eastern Michigan 75-65.
