Friday, March 21
Waco, Texas
6 pm ET | 5 pm CT
Ball State University
27-8,16-2MAC
65
vs
83
University of Mississippi
21-10,10-6SEC
1
2
3
4
F
Ball St.
12
11
16
26
65
Ole Miss
21
16
27
19
83
Photo by: AP
Cardinals End Historic Season with First-Round Loss to No. 5 Ole Miss in NCAA Tournament
March 21, 2025 | Women's Basketball
WACO, Texas – No. 12-seed Ball State saw its historic season come to an close Friday evening with a loss to fifth-seeded Ole Miss, 83-65, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Foster Pavilion. With the loss, the Cardinals ended their season with an overall record of 27-8 while the Rebels improve to 21-10 and advance to the second round of the tournament against host No. 4-seed Baylor on Sunday.
This was only the second time in program history that the Cardinals earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the first since 2009.
The Cardinals opened the ball game with a 7-0 run after baskets from Lachelle Austin and Ally Becki. The fast-paced scoring spree stunned the Ole Miss Rebels. Ole Miss finally scored a basket at the 7:39 mark. Both squads went back and forth until the media timeout which had the Cardinals still leading by one, 10-9. After the timeout, the Rebels outpaced BSU 11-3 to take a 21-12 advantage into the second 10 minutes of play.
Ball State put up a good fight, but the Rebels' athleticism and defense was too much for the Cardinals to handle. Turnovers also began to plague BSU. Lachelle Austin scored Ball State's first field goal of the second frame with a fast break layup to make it a 27-14 contest. A Becki bucket just under the four-minute mark put BSU within single digits of Ole Miss (29-20). Ole Miss led by as many as 17 (37-20) with 35 seconds on the clock but Becki threw up a last-second 3-pointer to make it 37-23 at intermission.
After the break, the Cardinals couldn't comeback from their first half shooting woes. The Rebels continued to control the tempo and eventually built a 22-point cushion, 66-44, with 7:49 left in the contest.
The Cardinals ended another historic season under 13th-year head coach Brady Sallee. Led by Mid-American Conference Player of the Year and Tournament MVP Ally Becki, the Cardinals captured their second MAC tournament championship in program history, defeating the Toledo Rockets in the title game last Saturday, 65-58. Becki paced Ball State against the Rebels, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting with three 3-pointers.
Becki ended her career as the all-time program leader in assists (721) and assists in a single season (216). MAC Defensive Player of the Year Marie Kiefer closed her Ball State career as the program's all-time blocks leader in a career (197) and single season (60).
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Team Stats
BSU
UM
FG%
.393
.419
3FG%
.273
.200
FT%
.786
.708
RB
31
53
TO
13
8
STL
2
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Basketball
/ Women's Basketball
/ Women's Basketball
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