Women's Basketball Outlasts EMU, 64-54, Wins Seventh Straight On The Road

Wednesday, March 1

Ypsilanti, MI

7:00 PM

Ball State University

21-8, 14-3MAC

Eastern Michigan University

6-23, 1-16MAC

Ball State

Eastern Michigan

Women's Basketball Outlasts EMU, 64-54, Wins Seventh Straight On The Road

March 01, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Ball State vs. EMU Final Stats

YPSILANTI, Mich. - The Ball State women's basketball team (21-8, 14-3 MAC) won its seventh-straight Mid-American Conference road game after defeating Eastern Michigan (6-23, 1-16 MAC), 64-54, Wednesday night in the Convocation Center.

After the Cardinals victory over Central Michigan last Saturday Ball State punched its ticket straight to Cleveland and earned a first round bye to the upcoming 2017 MAC Tournament for the third straight season. Currently Ball State and the Chippewas are tied for the top spot in the MAC but the Cardinals would be the No. 2 seed as of today.

For the game, senior center Renee Bennett led the team in scoring with 25 points after scoring 23 in the second half alone. Junior forward Moriah Monaco added 12 points while sophomore guard Destiny Washington ended the night with 10.

The Cardinals typically start their games off strong offensively but tonight the roles were reversed as Eastern Michigan sprinted out to a 10-0 run. Ball State finally stopped the bleeding with its first field goal coming at the 2:24 mark which came off of a layup from Bennett. The Eagles ended the quarter up 13-4, the last time the Cardinals trailed by a double digit margin in the first stanza was against Western Michigan at home this season. That game Ball State fell behind 16-4 in the first quarter to the Broncos.

Ball State has proved to be a resilient team all season and would not let the Eagles get them down. The Cardinals began the second quarter with a 9-0 run in a stretch of over four minutes to knot the game 13-13. Back-to-back baskets from Frazier and a 3-pointer from Monaco would be the key to the Cardinals run. After that, a layup from sophomore guard Carmen Grande with 3:35 remaining on the clock gave Ball State its first lead of the half, 18-17. Both teams closed the second quarter with minimal scoring and would make it a tied ball game, 21-21, at intermission. It would be only the third time during conference action the Cardinals have been tied at the half the other two games were at Toledo (21-21) and against Western Michigan (25-25). The Cardinals ended up winning both of those contests.

In the third quarter, Bennett and Frazier helped the Cardinals go up by four (27-23) prior to the media timeout but the Eagles remained on the heels of Ball State and regained the lead back for a short period of time. It was a back-and-fourth battle to close the quarter but Ball State came out on top after Washington made a layup at the buzzer to put the Cardinals up, 40-38.

The final stanza began much like the third quarter before the Cardinals began to pull away in the final minutes of the ball game. Both teams were tied 56-56 before Ball State outscored Eastern Michigan 14-5 in a little over a five minute stretch. Senior guard Calyn Hosea's basket with 1:16 left to play gave the Cardinals a 60-51 advantage which was too much for the Eagles to overcome despite their efforts.

It was the fourth quarter that the Cardinals finally got their offensive rhythm going shooting a staggering 76.9 (10-of-13) percent from the floor while holding the Eagles to a 34.4 percent.

After tonight's contest the Cardinals return home for their final Mid-American Conference regular season contest of the year. Ball State hosts the Toledo Rock Saturday at 2 p.m. in Worthen Arena. The Cardinals will say good-bye to their seniors Renee Bennett, Jill Morrison and Calyn Hosea.