Butler University is a main rival of Ball State, and Saturday afternoon, the women's basketball team earned a year of bragging rights.
The Cardinals overcame a slow start to post a win in the second game of the Hoosier State Classic in Worthen Arena, 89-68 in a game in which the team never trailed.
The Cards (5-2) battled back and forth with the Bulldogs (1-7) for more than four minutes before a 10-4 Cardinal run pushed the lead to 12 points behind the shooting of junior Tamara Bowie.
Bowie had a game-high 26 points - including 17 in the first half - while only missing one shot the entire game.
"Bowie just could not be stopped," head coach Tracy Roller said. "She was getting outside looks and inside looks. Right now the only person who can stop Tamara Bowie is Tamara Bowie."
The physically taller Ball State squad was a major contributor, according to Bowie, who said she was just "trying to take advantage of the smaller players guarding her."
But the Cardinals did something the team has struggled with for the past several years - play solid defense. In the final eight minutes of the first half, Ball State held Butler to only five points as they increased an eight-point lead to 27 at the break.
"We came out from the git-go, and I just thought they played with tremendous effort, especially defensively," Roller said. "I thought we just went right at them. We took a lot of their game away and showed what kind of dominance we possibly could have."
Butler's best player, sophomore Sarah Bolten, was held to only four points in the first half and had four turnovers.
The start of the second half was just like the start of the first half for the Cardinals - poor play offset by hard play by the Bulldogs. Butler scored more points in the first two minutes of the second half than they did in the last 10 in first half as they opened with a 10-2 run to pull within 19.
"Right off the bat (Butler) hit two shots," Roller said. "I don't think our girls are satisfied with that, and I'm not satisfied with that. I just called a timeout to get them re-focused, and we adjusted well after that."
Ball State's lead again reached 26 points behind the shooting of freshman Kate Endress who scored a career-high 18 points and hit three 3-pointers.
"I wasn't really looking for more shots - we just did a real good job of running our offense," Endress said. "I had some great screens, some great passes. I have to distribute the credit all across the board."
Butler attempted a few feeble runs as Bolten was able to come alive and scored 17 in the second half.
"Bowie was guarding her in the first half and had her pretty locked down," Roller said. "She's a pretty good player, and she can score. We knew we weren't going to be able to hold her down much longer."
But in the end, the Bulldogs' 29 turnovers were too much to overcome.
Not to mention the Cards had 46 points in the paint for a team that Roller said "lives and dies by the three."
Senior Susie Meshberger made her debut with the team as she finished her volleyball career at Ball State and is stepping in to give some added depth to the shorthanded team.
"We used so many weapons, and we're just so hard to guard," Roller said. "We just keep getting better and better."
In the first game of the classic, Valparaiso (3-3) defeated Indiana State (3-4) 69-65 in the first game.
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