Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
12-4,2-1MAC
University of Toledo
11-3,2-1MAC
Women’s Basketball Loses Hard Fought Battle to MAC Rival Toledo
January 11, 2023 | Women's Basketball
TOLEDO, Ohio - The Ball State women's basketball team (12-4, 2-1 MAC) dropped its first Mid-American Conference contest of the season on the road at Toledo (11-3, 2-1 MAC) Wednesday night in Savage Arena.
It came to no surprise that tonight's midweek MACtion would be a tightly contested competition between the Cardinals and the Rockets which resulted in an 83-76 victory for Toledo.
The game came down to the final stanza after Toledo began to pull away from Ball State with 7:49 remaining in the contest to go up by eight (70-62). After that, Toledo continued to string together a series of offensive spurts that were too much for Ball State to overcome despite its efforts.
The Cardinals fouled out of frustration and the Rockets, who leads the league in free throws, found success from the charity stripe, ultimately allowing Toledo to stay atop of Ball State the remainder of the ball game.
Ball State trailed Toledo throughout the first 10 minutes of action struggling to connect offensively. The Cardinals had some unforeseen errors and weren't playing to the best of their defensive ability. Toledo outscored Ball State 23-14 in the first quarter.
But the tides turned quickly in the second stanza that frankly left Toledo's defense in shock. The Cardinals gave the Rockets a piece their own medicine scoring 14-straight points.
Sophomore Marie Kiefer single handily scored 11 points in the second quarter after shooting 5-of-6 from the field, including 1-of-1 from behind the arc. The Cardinals comeback earned them the 39-37 lead over the Rockets at intermission.
After the break, both teams went neck and neck with Toledo barely coming out on top 61-59 after graduate senior Thelma Dis Agustsdottir topped the third quarter off with a jumper at the buzzer.
Ball State placed four in double digits with Kiefer leading the way with a season best 19 points. Sophomore Ally Becki chipped in 17 points while teammate Agustsdottir had 14 points. Rounding out the double figure scoring was redshirt senior Anna Clephane with 11.
The Ball State women's basketball team returns home Saturday for a double-header along with the men's basketball program as both teams will host its MAC rival the Miami RedHawks. The women's game will begin at 11 am ET while the men's contest is scheduled for a 2 pm ET tip-off.
Fans can purchase tickets to the game by calling the Stoops Buick/GMC Ticket Center at 888.BSU.TICKET or 765.285.1474 to join the Cardinal Family inside Worthen Arena! Season and group tickets are also on sale now, while single game tickets are also available online at Ticketmaster.com.
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