The winning streak is over.
After opening the season with a school-record five wins, the Ball State University women's basketball team lost its first game Sunday.
Valparaiso's stingy defense and time-consuming offense led the Crusaders to a 61-49 win in the State Farm Hoosier Classic. Valparaiso (4-2) limited the Cardinals' offense to season-lows in points and field-goal shooting percentage.
Coach Tracy Roller said the loss was tough to take.
"Nobody likes to lose," Roller said. "I hate to lose. My team hates to lose. We're going to be upset, but we're going to get better and learn how to guard against this loss in the future."
Ball State shot 3-of-20 from 3-point range and was limited to just two fast break points.
The Cardinals were unable to get many fast break chances due to a patient Crusaders offense.
"I think Valpo did such a great job of working the ball," Roller said. "I don't know how many under 10-second scores they had. Sometimes it was a last-second shot or under five-second scores."
"Corbin is such a threat in the open-court in terms of trying to get in the paint to where she creates shots for [Tina] Bolte or [Krista] Stewart," Crusaders coach Keith Freeman said. "I feel like if you pick her up deeper, then that's creating offense because she's so fast."
Ball State led early 7-2 with two baskets from Raechelle Hampton and a 3-pointer from Bolte. Valparaiso then went on a 27-7 run fueled by 13 points from Carrie Meyers.
The Cardinals responded back with a 12-4 run to close the half trailing 33-24.
Ball State never got closer than five points in the second half as their shooting struggles continued.
"We really have no excuses," said forward Julie DeMuth, who played high school basketball at Highland near Valparaiso. "We just didn't play our game."
DeMuth led the Cards with 14 points and 10 rebounds for her third straight double-double. Bolte added 13 points, but shot 3-of-11 from behind the arc.
"Sometimes shots aren't going to fall. It just happens," Bolte said. "We weren't getting a lot of second chances. They were keeping us off the boards pretty well."
Ball State entered the contest with a 75.8 scoring average, but the Crusaders found ways to shut the Cardinals' offense down.
"They're a championship team," Roller said. "They're very patient and poised. We just didn't match them offensively tonight."
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