DEKALB, Ill. - When it came to do-or-die time for the Ball Statewomen's basketball team, the team created new life with an 80-71win over the Northern Illinois Huskies. With the win they advancepast the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament andearn a trip to Cleveland for the fifth straight time where theywill face No. 1 seed Miami.
The win, which broke the Cardinals six-game losing streak, cameonly five days after Northern defeated BSU 82-62.
"I kind of knew when we left here last time, with the six gamelosing streak, it was going to have to take a mentality to comeback here and turn it around, " head coach Tracy Roller said. "Itmay sound confident, but when I went to practice on Thursday andespecially (Friday) and saw our mentality, I knew that we would atleast have a chance."
Northern got the first points of the game, and their only leadof the game with a 3-pointer from Lindsay Secrest. However theCards' answered by scoring eight straight, which included two3-pointers from sophomore Dana Collins. At 3:12 into the game,Collins got her third trey, prompting a Huskie timeout to try andstop the momentum.
"We were pretty hyped and before the game, I had Johna (Goff)come up to me and say 'no one can stop you' and that pretty muchset the tone," Collins said.
Ball State continued to use that tone, enabling them to closethe first half on an 11-3 run to send them into halftime ahead45-31.
After going 2-20 from behind the arch in their last matchup, theCards' drained 6 of their 14 attempts in the first half. JuniorKate Endress played the entire 20 minutes of the first half to ledBall State with 16 points. For the Huskies, it was their postplayers, Jennifer Youngblood and Joi Scott, who led the team witheight points apiece.
Those two got Northern off to a good start in the second half,scoring six straight to pull Northern within 37-45. Scott, however,contributed only one of those points, which ended up being her onlypoint in the second half due to sophomore Raechelle Hampton'sdefensive presence on Scott.
Roller said after the game that Hampton, along with Collins,were the game's two x-factors.
"Those two combined with our scoring and a different mentality,we are a completely different team then we were the last time,"Roller said.
Ball State got its last basket of the game with 4:14 remaining,which enabled the Huskies to complete a 7-0 run to pull within69-74. However, the Cards' were 6-6 from the line in the finalminutes and came away with the 80-71 victory.
"They did a great job attacking and getting themselves back inthe game," Endress said. "We hung tough; we got a couple offensiveboards when we needed to, we hit some clutch free throws, and Ithink that was really the difference."
The Cardinals had all five of their starters finish in doublefigures, with Endress getting the game-high 21 points. SeniorJessica Reiter finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, whichgives her 288 rebounds on the season and sets a new single seasonrecord. Collins had a breakout performance, finishing with aseason-high 19 points, career-high five 3-pointers and a game-highfive assists. Goff added 15 and freshman Kelsey Corbin had 11.
Youngblood led the Huskies with 18 points and 15 rebounds andthe only double-double of the game.
Ball State finished shooting 44 percent from the floor,including an 11 for 22 effort from behind the arch, while Northernshot only 39 percent. The Cards', who average 18.5 turnovers pergame, committed a season-low eight turnovers while completing 17assists.
When it came down to it, the team decided they weren't going tobe satisfied without a trip to Cleveland.
"I was going home from Cleveland," Goff said. "I wasn't goinghome from (DeKalb)."
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