In the first of two games to take place in Worthen Arena today, it was three-pointers that made a real difference in the game. At the final buzzer, Ball State Women’s Basketball earned a win over Mid-American Conference (MAC) foe Miami (OH) with a score of 92-61.
The Cardinals move to 13-4 on the season and 3-1 in the MAC.
Killer slow start
After a slow and sluggish start against Toledo (11-3, 2-1 MAC), the Cardinals found themselves in a nearly identical situation to start the game against Miami (6-11, 1-3 MAC).
Ball State was painfully slow to start the game, as the Cardinals found themselves down seven fast, and did not make their first field goal until about two and a half minutes into the game. Things went from bad to worse as the quarter went on.
After a quick timeout from Ball State head coach Brady Sallee, the Cardinals looked to turn things around. Instead of the hopeful turnaround, it would be a scoreless end to the quarter. The Cardinals failed to score for the last 5:26 minutes in the first quarter.
Against Toledo, it was points in the paint that hurt, and against Miami, it was three-pointers. Sophomore guard Ivy Wolf for the Redhawks was 3-4 in the first quarter from three, with 11 points. One of her three-pointers came courtesy of a dagger buzzer beater to end the quarter.
Game saving run, turning into a dominant second half
After being scoreless for more than half of the first, the Cardinals came out a whole different team, much like they did against Toledo (if you haven’t seen by now, there are a lot of Toledo comparisons, oddly enough).
For the second quarter, Ball State outscored Miami 27-11. Most of that came off of a 17-3 Cardinal run to end the second quarter. Eventually, for the first time in the game, Ball State took their first lead with 2:10 left to go in the first half.
The biggest momentum shift came from three possessions from the Cardinals, all of them ending in three-point makes.
It all started after a missed Anna Clephane (redshirt senior) three, Thelma Dis Agustsdottir (graduate student) was able to secure the rebound, kicking it right back out for a Clephane three. The next possession was Clephane again who called her own number, making yet another 3-pointer.
A kick-out corner three from Ally Becki (sophomore) was the final possession that changed the game. Although it was only three simple possessions, it was a nine-point swing in the Cardinals direction.
The third quarter was another one of dominance for Ball State. The Cardinals outscored the Redhawks 26-16 and took a large lead.
Ball State was also able to use its height advantage to create points in the paint after not doing so against the Rockets. The Cardinals outscored Miami 34-18 in paint points.
After a hard foul committed on Becki, she was helped off of the court by trainers and taken back with an apparent injury to her leg. About two minutes later, Becki was seen walking back onto the court with little to no limp.
After she sat back down on the bench, Sallee put her right back in and made the same impact as if she were not hurt. She finished the game with 10 points and 11 assists for another double-double.
Thelma Dis Agustsdottir and Anna Clephane move up in the record books
Clephane joined the 1000-point club, making her the 10th member to do so under Sallee. Clephane ended with a game-high 25 points and was 10-13 from the field.
Dis Agustsdottir also etched herself higher into Ball State Women’s Basketball history today with now being third for 3-point makes with 271. Her performance was another reason for a win in today's game with 20 points, eight rebounds, and was 6-9 from three.
Contact Elijah Poe with comments at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ElijahPoe4.
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