With all the parity in the Mid-American Conference West Division every game is huge and a must-win. Ball State took that attitude into its matchup against Northern Illinois and came away with a 70-57 win, leaving the Cardinals only one game out of first place in the West.
"We knew this was a big game," sophomore Dana Collins said. "Everyone with the three and the four losses, this could have been the deciding factor of who goes where in the MAC."
In front of the second-largest crowd in school history to witness a women's basketball game, the Cardinals had plenty of enthusiasm in the first half. After surviving some shooting woes in which they converted on only one of their first eight shots, the Cardinals fought back from an early 4-0 deficit.
Collins and junior Kate Endress hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Ball State its first lead of the game at 8-6. The Huskies would fight back to get an 11-8 advantage, but after senior Jessica Rieter got it within one, Collins continued to stay hot from beyond the arch, hitting a 3-pointer at the 12:52 mark, which gave Ball State the lead for good.
"I've been doing some extra shooting trying to get myself back into the full of things from my injuries and I think that's helped out a lot," Collins said about her season-best performance of 17 points.-รก
Northern was able to keep it within single digits until Collins hit another 3-pointer with 3:51 remaining in the first, giving the Cardinals a 31-19 advantage they would continue to build on. The Cards ended the first half with a 42-26 advantage against a Northern team that allows only 63 points per game on the season.
Collins wasn't the only one having a big first half though, as the Cards had three in double figures at the break. To go along with Collins 13, Endress had 11 and senior Jessica Reiter had 10.
Ball State came out of the break a little flat and the Huskies scored 13 to the Cards' six and got the score back down to single digits at 48-39.
"I think the time in the second half where we just lost our legs was because the crowd was unbelievable, the energy was very exciting and the first half we played so well and everybody was so up and all of a sudden it was like 'crash,'" head coach Tracy Roller said.
The Cardinals got their last basket of the game at the 7:19 mark giving them a 16-point lead, they then used strong defensive play and six free throws in the final minute to seal the 70-57 victory.
The Cardinals finished with four players in double figures including Collins' game-high 17 points. Endress and Reiter each finished with 15 while senior Johna Goff finished with 11.
"Kate, Jessi and Johna are going to get double figures and then when (Collins) steps up for 17 its going to be really hard to beat us," Roller said.
After the Huskies opened the game dominating the inside, the Cards' came back to hold their center, Joi Scott, and forward Jennifer Youngblood to only 21 combined points and out-rebound the Huskies 36-35.
"I got to give it to our post players," Roller said. "I thought Joi Scott and Jennifer Youngblood were going to come in and just give us fits, and everybody stepped up (in response)."
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