Ball State 76, Evansville 70
Western Michigan 74, North Dakota State 59
Ball State 76, Evansville 70
MUNCIE, Ind. – In a game where the Ball State women’s basketball team raced out to a 37-27 halftime lead, the Cardinals put for players in double figures to claim the 76-70 victory over Evansville Wednesday night in Worthen Arena.
With the win, Ball State improved to 1-1 on the season, while Evansville evened its season record at 1-1.
"Evansville missed some of their open shots that they got, I think they are going to make those down the stretch and I think they will end up having a really good year, Ball State head women's basketball coach Brady Sallee said. "We were just fortunate that when they missed them we were able to rebound the ball as well as we did, so I am really happy with that stat. Clearly we shot the ball really well and they didn't, probably a game of efficiency where we were able to execute in the second half. We needed that one, we needed to get off the hump a little bit and get that first one under our belt."
Ball State’s defense held the Aces to .281 percent shooting in the first half and .363 for the game, while the Cardinals shot at nearly a 50 percent pace to tally the win. The Cardinals also out-rebounded the Aces 42-to-30.
Nathalie Fontaine led the Cardinals with 19 points, while Jill Morrison tallied 17 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Renee Bennett and Shelbie Justice added 12 points apiece, combining to make 9-of-16 field goals. Morrison connected on 5-of-9 field goals, all from three-point range, while also adding two steals on the night.
Morrison nailed a three-pointer in the first drive of the game to give the Cardinals the early 3-0 edge over Evansville. Ball State would hold on to its lead up until the 6:03 mark when Evansville tied the game at 20-20. The Cardinals then put together a 17-7 run in a span of six minutes to take the 37-27 lead over the Purple Aces at the half.
Evansville came within four (43-39) at the 15:10 mark, but sophomore Shelby Merder answered with a layup which sparked a 7-0 run to put the Cardinals back up by 11 (50-39) with about 12 minutes remaining in the ball game.
Evansville then orchestrated a 13-5 run to come within two (55-53) at the 6:55 mark. Justice drew a foul after a layup with just two minutes to play to put the Cardinals back up by five (70-65) and Evansville would not get any closer in the contest.
Ball State women's basketball will head on the road for the first time this season when the Cardinals travel to No. 12 Louisville Sunday for a 2 p.m. tipoff in the KFC Yum Center. Ball State’s lone win over Louisville, which leads the all-time series record 4-1, came in the 2001-02 postseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament when Ball State defeated the Cardinals 95-84 in Worthen Arena. Ball State suffered a 105-67 loss to Louisville last season in Worthen Arena.
Western Michigan 74, North Dakota State 59
KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan women's basketball team defeated visiting North Dakota State Wednesday night, 74-59, at University Arena. The Broncos are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2002-03 after opening the season with a 63-41 win over UMass on Nov. 14.
Western Michigan never trailed against North Dakota State and built a 15-point advantage in the first half, 39-24. Junior forward Jessica Jessing was the driving force in the first 20 minutes, scoring 13 of her game and career-high 15 points, as well as grabbing four of her five rebounds in the opening period.
After missing the opener against UMass, junior post Miracle Woods made her season debut and gave the Broncos a different look with a more physical style down low in the second half. Woods ended the game with nine points and three rebounds.
“I thought offensively we did a good job spreading them out,” said WMU head coach Shane Clipfell. “I think you saw a lot of the diversity this team has tonight, we can go with a power game with Teagan (Reeves) and Miracle (Woods) in the post together and we can bring in OB (Michelle O'Brien) and JJ (Jessica Jessing) and try to spread teams out a little bit.”
After building the big lead in the first half, WMU went to its reserves for extended playing time in the second half. As the team adjusted to playing with different lineups, the Bronco defense didn't carry quite the same tenacity as in the first half. NDSU and Western Michigan each scored 35 points in the second half.
“Probably the biggest negative tonight was our defense in transition," Clipfell said. "We just need to put more effort in it, we need to clean that up because I don’t want it to be our crutch this year I want it to be strength."
Offensively, Western Michigan had no trouble finding scorers. In addition to Jessing, three other players reached double figures.
Reeves checked out with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while O'Brien and Alex Morton each scored 10 points. O'Brien also grabbed six rebounds, while Morton dished out four of the team's 10 assists.
The Broncos shot 43.1 percent for the game, however were just 4-for-15 (26.7%) from behind the arc. NDSU shot 38.3 percent and committed 24 turnovers, 10 more than WMU.
Western Michigan heads to Ann Arbor Sunday, Nov. 23, for its first road test of the season, taking on Michigan at 2 p.m.
