Throughout Ball State University's women's basketball team 10-game winning streak, the Cardinals always seemed to be the team to respond in tight situations. On Saturday, those roles were reversed.
With a little more than six minutes to play in Ball State's 77-66 loss to Ohio University, the two teams were tied at 53. This time, the Cardinals (16-3, 7-1 Mid-American Conference) were on the wrong end of a 14-2 Bobcat run that gave Ohio (1-9, 4-4 MAC) a 67-55 lead with 1:55 remaining.
The loss ended Ball State's 10-game winning streak, as well as the Cardinals' 11-game home winning streak, which was the longest in the program's history.
Cardinals' coach Tracy Roller said she was disappointed with the team's mentality.
"I thought we played not to lose tonight," Roller said. "Whenever you play not to lose, a loss is bound to happen."-á
The Bobcats were able to hold Ball State to two fast-break points. In the first half, Ball State executed its half-court sets by shooting 45.2 percent from the field. However, that number dropped to 29 percent in the second half. In contrast, Ohio shot 48.1 percent from the floor.
The Cardinals didn't help themselves from the line, shooting 15-of-25 free throws in the game, including 3-of-11 in the first half. In contrast, Ohio converted 23 of its 27 free throw attempts.
Ball State forward Julie DeMuth, who recorded a double-double with a team-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, said sloppy offense and lethargic defense was too much for the Cardinals to overcome.-á
"Teams miss shots and have bad shooting games," DeMuth said. "Ours just happened to come on a day when nothing else was going right."-á
Though the Bobcats were able to dictate the game's tempo, point guard Kelsey Corbin said her team was to blame for the loss.-á
"As good of a job [Ohio] was doing, the way we play goes completely on us," Corbin said. "I think all year we've honed in on the fact that our wins and our losses happen because of us. It's nothing they did; it's what we did."-á
Other than the broken win streaks, the defeat came after the Cardinals received votes in The Associated Press poll and USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time since the 2000-01 season.-á
With everything that was on the line for Ball State, Roller said she was disappointed her team didn't match Ohio's intensity.-á
"Ohio did a very good job on us," Roller said. "Their scouting was very well done. They beat us back in transition. They did many things to expose our weaknesses. But I'm most disappointed that we didn't match that. We didn't play Ball State basketball, and that's aggressive, hard-nosed, blue-collar basketball."
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