The opponent might have been at the bottom of the Mid-American Conference, but the women's basketball team needed plenty of heart to beat Central Michigan 72-65 Saturday.
"I just felt like it was our heart in the last three minutes," head coach Tracy Roller said. "(Our team) just played with really good heart, took care of the ball and executed exactly what I needed them to do."
Senior Johna Goff, who became the No. 2 all time season-high 23 point performance, agreed with Roller.
"I'm proud of this team because we've been through a lot of stuff lately, and we really showed tonight, like coach said, that we got a lot of heart," Goff said.
Ball State started the game with back-to-back 3-pointers from Goff and sophomore Dana Collins. The Chippewas always had an answer, though, never letting the Cardinals' lead get into double digits.
With 14:14 left in the first half, junior Kate Endress tied the game at 10 with a layup, which moved her to 10th on Ball State's all-time scoring chart with 1,148 points.
With 6:04 left in the first half, Goff gave the Cardinals their largest lead of the game with a 3-pointer that made the score 26-18. Central then scored six straight before senior Leah Boehme was able to end almost a five minute scoring drought and give the Cardinals a 28-26 halftime advantage.
At the beginning of the second half, freshman Kelsey Corbin and sophomore Raechelle Hampton gave Ball State a spark scoring 12 of the Cardinals" first 14 points.
"I think probably those two impacted the game the most," Roller said. "When you get unexpectedness off the bench, especially with Raechelle, it really helps our team."
After the 17:32 mark in the second half, the Chippewas would never lead again and would only tie the game four more times, including a 62-62 knot with 3:05 remaining.
Endress broke the tie with a 3-pointer, and Collins got a layup a minute later to give the Cardinals a five-point lead with 1:07 remaining. The Cardinals, who were 16-of-18 from the line, used free-throws to clinch the game in the final minute.
Goff's 23 points came on 7-of-12 shooting, including three of five from behind the arch and a perfect 6-for-6 on free throws. With 1,514 points, she now stands one point ahead of three-time All-American Emma Jones.
Endress and Collins also ended the game in double-figures, with 11 and 10 points respectively. Reiter pulled down 10 rebounds to tie for game-high honors with Central's Casey Manning. The Cards shot 46 percent, including 50 percent from behind the arch.
The Chippewas had three players in double figures, including Lindy Hatfield and Lindsay Mecoli who had 15. They shot 39 percent from the floor but were never able to get it going from behind the arch, converting only 20 percent.
Ball State, who averages 18.6 turnovers a game, committed a season-low 10 turnovers, including only two in the second half.
"We had a big cheer in the locker room for 10 turnovers, because that's definitely something that we're trying to get to," Roller said.
The Cardinals ended January on a winning note and will now have the week off to get ready for February.
"Hopefully we can continue to do great things," Goff said. "Looks like we're starting to do what we want, so that's what I'm excited about."
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