There wasn't too much on the line for the women's basketball team Sunday.
If the team beat Eastern Michigan, it would only win the Mid-American Conference title out-right, secure the programs first-ever No. 1 seed in the MAC Tournament and carry a four-game winning streak into the tournament.
Oh, and it was the last home game that senior Tamara Bowie - arguably the best player in school history - would ever play.
But Eastern Michigan had other plans. Despite Eastern head coach Suzy Merchant's denial of the Eagles trying to play spoiler, Eastern did just that as they beat the Cardinals 68-64 to drop them back into a tie with Toledo for the MAC crown.
For Ball State (18-8, 12-4), the game was just another passed opportunity to end a season of missed opportunities.
"All we had to do was play 40 minutes of basketball and we had what we wanted," junior co-captain Johna Goff said. "We just didn't take care of what we needed to do."
As the Ball State offense sputtered against the tight man-defense by Eastern (12-14, 9-6), Bowie was the lone Cardinal to step up to the challenge and bare the load of the team.
Despite her 25 points and leading the team in four other categories, Bowie's play almost seemed as if she was trying to do too much, thus taking the team out of its game.
But head coach Tracy Roller said that she wanted the game in Bowie's hands, and despite the unusual one-on-one defense against her, Roller would not have changed a thing.
"I would take my chances with Bowie every time down the floor if I could," Roller said. "She had one hell of a game all around and Eastern played her straight up and said, "Bowie's going to have to beat us.'"
Following the intense hype of last Thursday's Kent State game, and the sudden hype against Eastern, head coach Tracy Roller said the team was tired, not just physically, but mentally as well.
"There was such a build up for Kent, it was such an enormous relief after it was over," Roller said. "Then all of a sudden, after Toledo lost, we had to build it back up again, making it more huge than it already was. We just didn't see it and step up to the challenge."
For Bowie, her efforts were for naught as the Cardinals could not find an answer for anything that Eastern threw at them. Both Roller and sophomore Kate Endress said that Eastern came in thoroughly prepared and knew exactly what to do to beat the Cardinals.
Even as the Cardinals fought through the adversity, missed free throws, poor execution and exhaustion prevented them from pulling out their final regular-season game and last home game for Bowie.
"All anyone said to me before the game was 'Are you ready?'" Bowie said. "I was just taking it like any other game. I think everyone else was more excited for me than I was for myself."
Fighting back an emotional display, the ever-complacent Bowie simply said the game could possibly turn out to be the best learning tool the team has had all season.
"This game was what we needed to do to learn what not to do," Bowie said. "We let things really get to us during the game, and the bottom line is we just didn't fight back."
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