Ball State University
21-8 (13-5MAC)
Toledo
17-12 (12-6MAC)
WBB Ends Regular Season With 68-58 Win At Toledo
March 05, 2016 | Women's Basketball
TOLEDO, Ohio - The Ball State women's basketball team closed its regular season with a 68-58 victory at Toledo Saturday afternoon in John F. Savage Arena.
With the win, the Cardinals secured the No. 3 seed in the upcoming 2016 Mid-American Conference Tournament and improved their overall record to 21-8 and 13-5 in league action. With the loss, Toledo falls to 17-12 on the season and 12-6 in MAC play.
Fourth-year Ball State head women's basketball coach Brady Sallee, becomes the first coach in program history to have four consecutive winning seasons -- 17-16 (2012-13), 18-17 (2013-14), 17-14 (2014-15) and 21-8 (2015-16). Under Sallee's guidance, Ball State has advanced to Cleveland in all four of his seasons which includes three automatic byes.
Ball State women's basketball all-time leading scorer Nathalie Fontaine, earned her 35th career double-double after a 22-point, 14 rebound performance which inculded 12 defensive boards. Renee Bennett chipped in 15 points and seven rebounds while teammate Carmen Grande finished the day with 14 points. Moriah Monaco rounded out the double digit scoring with 10 points.
For the game, Ball State limited its turnovers to 12 while shooting 42.6 percent from the field. The Cardinals held the Rockets to 36.4 shooting from the floor and outscored Toledo 32-to-20 in the paint. Ball State also out-rebounded Toledo 40-to-32.
After the half, Ball State went on a 9-5 run to go up by 16 (44-28) over Toledo with 4:24 remaining in the third quarter. But Toledo started to come back slowly but surely after putting
together a 10-3 run that would cut the Cardinals lead to nine (47-38) at the end of the third
quarter.
Every time the Rockets got closer in the fourth quarter the Cardinals found Bennett or Fontaine underneath the basket. The closest Toledo got was five (63-58) with 38 seconds left to play in the contest. After Toledo was forced to foul, the Cardinals made five of their last six free throws down the stretch to secure the 10-point victory.
Both teams started off slow offensively at the beginning of contest. Ball State trailed Toledo 4-2 at the 5:06 mark but Grande answered with eight-straight points for the Cardinals to give Ball State a 10-6 lead with 2:54 left in the first stanza.
Ball State continued its hot hand in the second quarter, outscoring the Rockets 21-to-13 to take a commanding 35-23 advantage over Toledo at intermission. Grande led all players at the half with 12 points. Ball State also shot 42.4 percent from the field (14-of-33) while holding Toledo to 30.0 percent (9-of-30) from the floor.
The Ball State women's basketball team will make its 26th appearance in the MAC Tournament in program history Wednesday. Ball State has advanced to Cleveland in 15 out of the past 17 seasons. The Cardinals will play the last game Wednesday night in Quicken Loans Arena against the winner of No. 6 Eastern Michigan versus No. 11 Kent State which will be played Monday night in Ypsilanti, Mich.
