Ball State University
25-7,14-4MAC
University of Akron
17-13,8-10MAC
Women’s Basketball Advances to MAC Tourney Semifinals With Win Over Akron
March 08, 2023 | Women's Basketball
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The No. 3 seed Ball State women's basketball team defeated No. 6 Akron by a score of 92-68 Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to advance to the 2023 Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinals for the second-straight season.
Leading an all-around solid team performance for the Cardinals (25-7) was All-MAC First Team honoree Anna Clephane. The redshirt senior poured in 20 points while sophomore Alex Richard added a career best 19 points.
All-MAC Honorable Mention recipient graduate senior Thelma Dis Agustsdottir chipped in 16 points off 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc. Rounding out BSU's double-digit scorers against the Zips (17-13) were sophomores Marie Kiefer (13) and Madelyn Bischoff (11).
As with any MAC tournament game, there are a lot of jitters when the ball goes up and tonight's quarterfinal contest was not different. Ball State fell behind 14-9 early, with Akron maintaining the five-point lead with 3:40 left in the first frame. But as we have learned all season, the Cardinals have a tendency to fight their way back into the ball game fairly quickly regardless of the situation.
So naturally, Agustsdottir and Bischoff hit back-to-back 3 pointers to get Ball State right where it needed to be, tying the game at 17. Akron, however, would still hold a slight 20-19 edge over Ball State at the end of the quarter.
The Cardinals found their offensive groove in the second quarter, outscoring the Zips by a 22-11 margin to take a comfortable 10-point cushion, 41-31, into intermission.
Akron opened the third period with a 6-0 run to cut Ball State's lead to four, 41-37, with just over a minute shaved off the clock. The Cardinals answered quickly by attacking the basket which led to domination in the paint, as BSU went back up by 10, 47-37, after a pull up jumper from sophomore Ally Becki.
Despite the Zips' efforts the remainder of the second half, the Cardinals never lost their composure and remained in control the rest of the contest.
For the game, Ball State shot 77.3 percent from the free throw line and 54.1 percent from the field, along with dropping 40 points in the paint.
The third-seeded Ball State women's basketball team continues its journey for a Mid-American Conference Tournament title when it faces second-seeded Bowling Green Friday at approximately 12:30 p.m. ET in the second women's semifinal game.
