WBB Ends the New Year on a High Note, Scoring 102 at Akron

Wednesday, December 31

Akron, OH

12 pm

Ball State University

10-4,2-0MAC

102

University of Akron

3-10,0-1MAC

Ball St.

102

Akron

WBB Ends the New Year on a High Note, Scoring 102 at Akron

December 31, 2025 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Tessa Towers scores career best 23 points and pulls down 13 rebounds for her sixth double-double this season

AKRON, Ohio. - The Ball State women's basketball team (10-4, 2-0 MAC) used a balanced offense and stifling defense to give the Cardinals the 102-73 Mid-American Conference victory over Akron (3-10, 0-1 MAC) Wednesday afternoon at James A. Rhodes Arena.

Ball State saw six different Cardinals reach double-digit scoring this afternoon which was led by Tessa Towers with a career best 23 points after shooting 11-of-16 from the field. Towers also grabbed 13 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. The 13 rebounds also tied a personal high for Towers.

Behind Towers was Bree Salenbien who had 14 points while Zhen Verburgt, Grace Kingery and Karsyn Norman each finished the game with 11. Rounding out the double-digit scoring was Violeta Rojas who added a career best 10 points.

For the game, Ball State controlled the ball very well having only nine turnovers while Akron struggled in that category committing 16 miscues. The Cardinals out- rebounded the Zips 50-35 including 35 defensive rebounds.

After having over a week off for the holiday break, the Cardinals were ready to return to the court this afternoon against the Zips for their first league road trip of the season.

Ball State got off to a slow start in the opening minutes of play but was able to brush off its rustiness to close out the first quarter of play with a 17-4 scoring spree over a four-minute span. The run was capped off by a layup from Towers and a steal from Gorini which led to the Cardinals 25-14 advantage over the Zips to end the frame.

The Cardinals saw a well-rounded offense in the second 10 minutes of action which included layups from Towers, Norman, Gorini and Aniss Tagayi. It also came to no shock that Ball State's defense was on point as the Cardinals were able to hold the Zips to only 29 points in the first half. Ball State took the impressive 50-29 advantage over Akron into the locker room at intermission.

After the break, it was not much of a contest anymore, as the Cardinals continued to dominate the floor both offensively and defensively. The Cardinals extended their lead to 69-39 after a three-pointer from Verburgt at the halfway point of the third stanza. Ball State eventually built an 86-49 cushion over Akron to end the third.

The fourth quarter mimicked the previous ones, and the Zips could not catch up to the Cardinals no matter how hard they tried. The fourth period was highlighted by a Gorini layup with only a few minutes left in the game for the Cardinals 100th point that would also put the exclamation point on today's victory.

The Ball State women's basketball team continues Mid-American Conference action when it travels to Northern Illinois Saturday for the last time as the Huskies will join the Horizon League next year. The game is slated for a 3 pm ET tipoff in the Convocation Center.