Story Courtesy of Ball State Athletic Communications

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Ball State women's basketball team used a balanced offense, accompanied by an outstanding defensive display, to pull off a thrilling 70-53 win over fourth-seeded Kent State in semifinal action of the 2025 Mid-American Conference Tournament Friday in Rocket Arena.

With the victory, the top-seeded Cardinals (26-7) advance to the MAC Tournament Championship game for the first time since the 2022 season. Ball State, which will be making its seventh championship game appearance, will face the winner of No. 2 Toledo versus No. 3 Buffalo in the title game Saturday at 11 am ET.

In Friday's win over the Golden Flashes (21-12), four Cardinals reached double-digits led by Lachelle Austin with 21 points off 8-11 shooting from the field. Following Austin was the 2025 MAC Player of the Year Ally Becki, who turned in a 15-point performance while dishing out seven assists. Rounding out BSU's double-figure scorers were Madelyn Bischoff and Alex Richard with 11-points apiece.

The opening semifinal game of the day was a defensive battle, and the Cardinals were on top of its game forcing the Golden Flashes to turn the ball over while also winning the rebound game. At the first media timeout, Ball State was up by four (7-3).  Kent State forced up a lot of shots early, and while some fell, the Cardinals held onto a 12-point (20-8) advantage after the first quarter of play.

The 2024 MAC Tournament champion Golden Flashes were not going to go away lightly, causing the Cardinals some scoring issues in the second frame. Despite that, Ball State led by 12 (28-16) at the 4:37 mark. After being held scoreless for a span of over two minutes, Marie Kiefer connected on a nice reverse layup to get BSU back on track. The Golden Flashes continued to fight, however, cutting it a single-digit Ball State lead (34-26) at intermission.

Ball State opened the third stanza with two steals which led to a  6-0 run to put BSU back up by 14 (40-26). The Golden Flashes continued to come within eight on-and-off throughout the third quarter. Fortunately, the Cardinals stayed resilient and took a 58-40 edge, capped off by a last second 3-pointer from Becki, heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

After that, the Cardinals continued to control its destiny and  eventually built a 22-point cushion (67-45) with 4:54 left in the game. Ball State's positive energy was infectious as they gave the crowd a show to finish the game off in fashion.