Wednesday's Scoreboard
Ball State 77, Loyola Marymount 72
Central Michigan 65, Oakland 47
Eastern Michigan 68, UIC 59
Texas 73, Ohio 60
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Ball State 77, Loyola Marymount 72
Box Score
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Cardinals (5-4) outscored Loyola Marymount (3-8) 53-30 in the second half for a 77-72 comeback win Wednesday night in Ball State's first game of the Lobo Invitational.
Ball State put five players in double figures tonight with Junior Oshlynn Brown pacing the Cardinals with a 17-point, 10 rebound performance for her fifth double-double of the season and 22nd of her career. Senior Jasmin Samz finished the night with 13 points while freshman Sydney Freeman chipped in 12 and freshman Annie Rauch scored a season-best 11 points. Redshirt freshman Anna Clephane rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10.
Ball State opened the third quarter with a 17-5 scoring spree to cut its halftime deficit to six (47-41) with 3:29 left on the clock. Freeman hit back-to-back baskets in the first minute to revive the Cardinals offensively. Her spark was contagious opening new scoring opportunities for Ball State that included baskets from Brown, Samz and Rauch. A fight underneath the basket and no whistle called, Clephane finally converted off of a put back that brought the Cardinals to within four (54-50) heading into the final frame.
As the Cardinals continued to fight and the Lions were holding onto dear life to keep their lead. Samz hit a layup and converted on the 3-point play after making her free throw attempt to bring Ball State within one (61-60). In Ball State's next possession, a layup by Freeman gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game. Rauch then capped it off with another basket making it a 64-62 contest with just over three minutes remaining. A 3-pointer by Freeman along with a steal and dish to Brown for a layup put Ball State in the driver seat for good. Loyola Marymount was forced to foul the remainder of the contest and the Cardinals converted from the charity stripe to seal the victory over the Lions.
A slow offensive start for the Cardinals resulted in an 8-1 deficit to Loyola Marymount at the 6:56 mark in the first frame of action. After being down by seven, Ball State went on a 10-4 run to make it a 12-11 ball game with 3:37 on the clock. LMU answered back-to-back baskets and held the Cardinals without a field goal for the remainder of the quarter to take a 16-11 lead heading into the second frame of action.
After the end of the first 20 minutes of play the Cardinals found themselves trailing Loyola Marymount by 18 (42-24). Brown led the Cardinals at the half in scoring and rebounding with seven points and five rebounds. Loyola Marymount shot 50 percent (17-34) in first half while holding Ball State to a 33 percent (10-30) shooting from the court.
The Cardinals continue their three-game road trip at the Lobo Invitational on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET against Providence. Following that contest, the Cardinals will close out play on Friday against host New Mexico. That game is slated for a 9 p.m. ET.
For the most up-to-date news on the Ball State women's basketball team, please follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateWBB.
Central Michigan 65, Oakland 47
Box Score
ROCHESTER, Mich. – Micaela Kelly hit nine of her 11 field goal attempts en route to a game-high 23 points on Wednesday as the Central Michigan women's basketball team downed Oakland, 65-47, in a nonleague game at the Golden Grizzlies' O'rena.
It was CMU's sixth-consecutive victory as it improved to 6-3. The Chippewas are ranked 10th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. Oakland is 4-6.
The 47 points was a season low for a CMU opponent.
"Overall, I think our defense was pretty good," CMU coach Heather Oesterle said. "We put in a two-three zone this week because we're going to need it down the road. I thought we did a good job with the two-three tonight.
"It wasn't the prettiest basketball game in the world with the turnovers. I was trying to give a lot of people a chance tonight. When the bench comes in, they have to elevate the play. I think some people got some experience, something to learn from."
Eastern Michigan 68, UIC 59
Box Score
CHICAGO, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's basketball team was in the Windy City for a Wednesday night, non-conference bout against the University of Illinois at Chicago tonight, Dec. 18. A game of runs by both teams, the Eagles pulled away late to earn the victory, 68-59, and claim consecutive wins for the first time this season.
Eastern (4-6) was led by freshman standout Aaliyah Stanley (Boynton Beach, Fla.-Oxbridge Academy), who tied a career-high with 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting. The electric guard has racked up seven double-digit scoring efforts through the first 10 games of the season for EMU. Junior Autumn Hudson (Richwood, Ohio-North Union) offered a season-best performance in the post, scoring 12 points and bringing down five rebounds.
Eastern proved to be the better team in the front court from the opening tip, taking advantage of size mismatches down low to quickly jump in front. Highlighting the squad's post presence was Hudson, who started the game 3-of-3 en route to scoring EMU's six initial points.
Up 11-8 with 2:47 remaining in the first quarter, EMU fell victim to an 11-0 Flames run that put EMU down eight at the end of the period, 19-11.
Despite the deficit, the Eagles proved resilient. Still down eight, 15-23, with just over five minutes remaining in the half, Eastern strung together a 13-2 run of its own. The stretch was initiated by a trio of Eagles. Hudson contributed four points via two made free throws and a layup, while Stanley added five of her 24 points during the stretch. Sophomore Jenna Annecchiarico (Baldwin, N.Y.-Baldwin) also tallied four of her nine points in the five minute span. The stretch gave EMU a 28-25 lead, the score that held going into the halftime break.
Despite shooting four ticks better from the field in the third quarter (50% to 44%) than the Flames, it was UIC that outscored Eastern, 21-16, in the third to reclaim the lead, 46-44, heading into the fourth. Stanley scored 12 of the 16 EMU points in the quarter on nearly-perfect 4-of-5 shooting.
The fourth quarter was a dominant one in favor of the Green and White. Although it was down to begin the final frame, EMU was able to outscore Illinois-Chicago, 24-13, over the game's final 10 minutes to earn the win, 68-59. Redshirt junior Areanna Combs (Oklahoma City, Okla.-Putnam City West (Oklahoma State)) scored 11 of her 13 points in the quarter, leading all Eagles in the frame. Combs has now scored in double-digits in each of the four games she has played in this season.
Eastern is back in action Saturday, Dec. 21, for a non-conference road bout with in-state rival, the University of Detroit Mercy. Tipoff from Calihan Hall is scheduled for 12 p.m.
Texas 73, Ohio 60
Box Score
AUSTIN, Texas – The Ohio women's basketball team (6-4, 0-0 MAC) fell to Texas (6-4, 0-0 Big 12), 73-60, on Wednesday evening at the Erwin Center.
Ohio was led by junior guard Cece Hooks (Dayton, Ohio), who had 21 points and a season-high seven steals. Hooks added four assists and a rebound in 35 minutes of play. Hooks was 7-of-20 from the floor and 7-of-12 from the free throw line.
Junior forward Gabby Burris (Baltimore, Ohio) and redshirt junior guard Katie Barker (Cary, Ill.) each had 12 points for OU. Barker was 4-of-9 from the three-point line while Burris was 4-of-5 from the floor and hit the two threes she took.
Junior guard Amani Burke (Columbus, Ohio) had eight points for Ohio while graduate transfer forward Maddie Bazelak (Dayton, Ohio) had a career-high five points for Ohio in 15 minutes on the floor.
OU forced Texas to turn the ball over 24 times and had 10 steals. Hooks' season-high of seven was Ohio's high while Burris, Burke and freshman guard Peyton Guice (Westerville, Ohio) had one. Ohio turned the ball over 17 times.
Ohio was in foul trouble after committing 24 during the game. Both Burke and sophomore forward Deesh Beck (Grand Rapids, Mich.) fouled out of the game, while Hooks and Barker ended with four fouls.
The Bobcats were outrebounded 52-25. Ohio had nine offensive boards while UT had 24. Burris paced the Cats with eight while Barker had four. Redshirt sophomore Caitlyn Kroll (Bridgeport, Ohio) and Bazelak each pulled in two caroms.
Overall, Ohio shot 36.8 percent (21-of-57) from the field and 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) from the field while Texas was 28-of-66 (42.4 percent) and 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) from deep. The Bobcats were 12-of-19 (63.2 percent) from the free throw line while UT was 12-of-18 (66.7 percent).
Ohio was down 35-29 after the first half. The Bobcats were 12-of-30 (40.0 percent) from the field and made three from behind the arc. Hooks led the way with 14 points while Barker had six after making two threes. Burris had three points after one three. OU started the game on a 5-0 run after a Hooks steal and Barker three. Barker then got the lead back to five with 5:25 left in the first quarter with another from behind the arc. Texas tied the game at 12-12 with 3:47 left and the pushed the lead to four to end the first quarter up 18-14.
UT held Ohio scoreless in the second frame until 5:32 when Kroll ended a 9-0 Texas run. Ohio chipped away and Burris buried a three with 2:32 left in the quarter to get the Texas lead down to 31-27. A couple buckets from Texas and one Hooks layup gave the Longhorns a 35-29 lead into the half.
Texas outscored 38-31 in the second half. The Bobcats were 9-of-27 (33.3.percent) from the field and 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) from deep. OU was led by Burris with nine, while Hooks had seven points. The Bobcats shot 12 of their 19 free throws in the fourth quarter, and knocked down eight. Texas started on a small run that gave them a 42-29 lead before a 7-0 run for Ohio – capped by a Burris triple with 6:42 left – put Ohio down 42-36. However, Texas was able to end the third quarter on a 6-0 run of their own and got the lead up to 52-42.
The Bobcats were able to cut that advantage in half to 56-50 with 8:52 left after a Barker fast break three, but OU couldn't any closer and Texas won the game, 73-60.
Ohio will wrap up nonconference play on Sunday, Dec. 29 at Chattanooga. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
