KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The women's basketball team had a huge offensive effort in the first half, but it wouldn't be enough to be the Mid-American Conference West Division leaders.
The Cardinals fell to the Western Michigan Broncos 87-71, after they struggled in the second half.
"It was kind of a tale of two halves for us," head coach Tracy Roller said. "We came out and played really aggressive, and I felt like we started off like a game-buster."
Ball State got their first points of the game off a 3-pointer from senior Johna Goff, and continued to convert from behind the arc, hitting six of its first seven. The Cardinals would hit four straight 3-pointers at one point. The first two came from senior Jessica Reiter, and the final two, which started a 13-0 run for the Cardinals, from sophomore Dana Collins and junior Kate Endress.
The run gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the game, a 33-17 advantage.
The Broncos would fight back, however, finally controlling the Cardinals' offense, enabling them to close the half with an 18-6 run, including 12 straight points. Western never led in the first half, and the score was only tied once before the 35-34 halftime break.
"I knew there was a possibility of a run on either side, that we could make a run like that or they could make a run like that," Roller said. "Unfortunately, this time we were on the wrong end of the rope."
After a first half in which the Cardinals were shooting 77 percent at one point, they struggled toward the end of the half, missing their last 3-pointer from behind the arc. They ended the half shooting 54 percent, compared to the Broncos' 36 percent.
In a battle between the MAC's two leading scorers, Endress got the best of the Broncos' league leading junior Casey Rost, who had only six points in the first half, compared to Endress' 15. Senior Lori Chrisman was the Broncos' spark in the first half, scoring 11 points, pulling down nine boards and getting five steals.
In the second half, after the Broncos' Carrie Moore was able to score four consecutive points with 18:21 remaining, no team would get an advantage of more than four points until the 11:58 mark, when Rost hit a 3-pointer.
Rost' s trey fueled a 9-0 Bronco's run, which gave them a 65-53 advantage. Ball State was able to stop the run, but never got back in it, and eventually lost by 16.
Endress finished the game with 25 points, while Goff finished with 14. Reiter had 13 points and six rebounds.
For the Broncos, Rost came on in the second half and finished with 22 points. Chrisman finished with the games only double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
"I felt like Chrisman would be the X-factor," Roller said. "(I thought) if we could stop her and Jessie (Reiter) could have a great game, we would win, and I guess I was right."
The Cardinals, who had only 23 turnovers in their last two games combined, committed 14 in the first half and ended the game with 20. Those turnovers came off 15 steals from the Broncos, a season-high against Ball State.
"They (Western) have so many offensive weapons," Roller said. "If you're not aggressive and executing, they just take advantage of you in so many different ways."
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