The women's basketball team stretched its winning streak to fourgames Tuesday night against the Illinois State Redbirds with a87-64 win.
Four of the starters for Ball State scored within the firstthree minutes to allow the Cardinals to go on a 11-0 run to startthe game.
A three-pointer by Illinois State's Katie Donovan ended the run,and she kept the Redbirds in the game from there, scoring 10 oftheir first 13 points.
Ball State kept the margin to about 10 points during the firsthalf, ending it 44-31.
Junior Kate Endress and senior Johna Goff continue to lead theCardinals. Endress scored 12 in the first half; Goff scorednine.
The only other scoring by the Cardinals came from two otherplayers with two points and two with three.
Donovan ended the first half just one point shy of her careerhigh 22 points and contributed almost 70 percent of the Redbirdspoints in the half.
In the first 12 minutes of the second half, the Redbirds neverlet the Cardinals lead by more than 15, but they never came closerthan 9 points.
With under eight minutes left to play in the game and the score62-52, the Cardinals went on a 15-0 run to the put the game out ofreach for the Redbirds.
The Cardinals took advantage of Illinois State's 24 turnovers,converting them into 33 points.
"When you're running a lot of screens and looking for differentoptions, turnovers are going to happen," head coach Tracy Rollersaid. "Hopefully it has something to do with our defense."
Endress, who finished with 22 points, led the team. Goff had 12points, and junior Leah Boehme finished with 11 for the second gamein a row. Senior Jessica Reiter was one point shy of adouble-double performance with 10 rebounds and nine points.
"I thought we did a really good job off the jump," Endress said."I think there were times tonight when our defense kind of lulledin and out, but if you get off to a good start and can contain thatlead throughout the game, that's definitely going to pay off."
Redbirds forward Stacey White, the sister of Ball Stateassistant coach Stephanie White, couldn't make the family reunioninteresting. She scored only six points off a 2-for-5 shootingnight.
The Cardinals offense continued to stay strong, and theirdefense had moments when it shined during the game.
The fast-paced scoring, which the Cardinals have been good atall season, helped the defense as much as it did the offense.
"It's what I love to watch, and if I'm going to coach, then I'mgoing to watch them a lot," Roller said. "I like watching it, so Iguess we'll keep doing it."
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