The Ball State women's basketball team continued to show its physical, defensive prowess to begin Mid-American Conference play, defeating Western Michigan 54-36 Saturday at Worthen Arena for the team's third consecutive win.
"Coach [Sallee] said it was going to be a tough game and we were going to have to play tough to win," senior Shelbie Justice said. "After that performance we showed that we have the toughness and heart to win those kinds of games."
The game started slowly as a low-scoring affair, with early offensive issues plaguing the Cardinals in the first half. After six minutes of play, the score was just 2-0 in favor of Western Michigan.
Ball State would use its solid defense to stay in the game though, keeping Western Michigan at bay.
At the end of the first half, the Cardinals and Broncos were tied at 21. Neither team had a player in double figures, and both teams' field goal percentages were around 30 percent.
Coming out for the second half, Ball State's full-court defense changed the course of the game.
The Cardinals outscored the Broncos 33-15 in the second half, forcing several turnovers. The Ball State defense accounted for 20 turnovers in the game, after forcing 31 against Miami in its last game.
"The different defensive things that we are able to do has been giving us a lot of opportunities to do a lot more in the games, and we showed that with this solid performance today," head coach Brady Sallee said.
Defense led to offense for Ball State, and it was Justice who got things going in the second half. She had 16 points in the second half alone to finish with 18, all while sporting a black eye she received early in the second half from an elbow.
Leading scorer Nathalie Fontaine would recover from a poor first half of only four points to finish the day with 12.
The Cardinals finished the game shooting 38.8 percent. They hit just two three-pointers as a team and made 14 of 21 from the free-throw line.
With the win, Ball State remains undefeated in MAC play at 3-0 and 7-7 overall. Ball State will return to action Jan. 14 as it hosts Kent State (3-11; 1-2 MAC) at 7 p.m.
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