It was a pick-your-poison type of women’s basketball game. When Akron and Ball State met in the regular season, Akron won by utilizing forwards Rachel Tecca and Sina King close to the basket.
In Friday’s Mid-American Conference semifinal, Akron prevailed 70-61, not because of Tecca, but because of guard Hanna Luburgh.
It didn’t take a crack scouting department to discover Ball State’s major weakness — depth.
Akron, and Luburgh in particular, exploited that weakness by running down the court in transition as often as possible.
Luburgh said transition offense is something her team practices in the preseason.
“That’s what we do,” she said. “We run. That’s how we score. We score a lot of points a game, and we score quickly.”
Akron coach Jodi Kest thought Ball State got tired in the second half, leading to more missed shots. After shooting almost 38 percent from the field in the first half, Ball State’s shooting percentage dipped in the second half to 26 percent.
“That’s what we preach to our kids,” Kest said. “Keep pushing, keep pushing. Even if we miss shots. They’re not used to that pace. At some point, they’re going to get tired. It happened today.”
Ball State’s exhaustion may have shown up in another category — fouls. Ball State committed 23 fouls in the game, most of which occurred in the second half. The 23 fouls would have been tied for third most this season by Ball State.
In the first game between Ball State and Akron, Tecca scored 22 points. Ball State concentrated on her and held the MAC Player-of-the-Year to just six points, her lowest total all season.
One Ball State player who didn’t have trouble shooting the ball was sophomore Brittany Carter. Carter had one of her worst shooting performances of the season when Ball State played Akron in mid-February. She went 1-of-12 from the field and 0-4 from 3-point range.
From the get-go, it was clear she was looking to make up for that on Friday. Less than two minutes into Friday’s game, Carter exceeded her previous scoring total against Akron with a 3-pointer.
She finished the game with a team- and season-high 18 points. She made four 3-pointers throughout the game.
With three minutes left of the game, every step, possession and point matters.
So when senior Shanee’ Jackson tied the game with a pair of free throws, it was a reset of the game’s previous 37 minutes.
Luburgh, whose team was 0-8 from 3-point range in the second half, then pulled up for a 3-pointer in transition. She drained it, giving her a new career-high 33 points.
“That’s her game, the 1-2 pullup,” Ball State junior guard Brandy Woody said. “We stressed that a lot. But when you’re hot, you’re hot. ... When you’re feeling it, you’re feeling it and it’s hard to stop that.”
Next year, Ball State looks to be better equipped to handle teams like Akron and their fast, up-tempo style of play.
The only player from the team that is graduating is Jackson, and the team looks to add six new recruits, one transfer midway through the year and possibly return up to three players back from injuries that ended their seasons short.
Although Ball State’s season ended in Cleveland without a MAC Tournament title, the team hopes the added depth will help them.
