Julie DeMuth grabbed a career-tying 18 rebounds and scored 12 points Wednesday. But it wasn't enough as Ball State University had the same amount of turnovers (19) as field goals in a road loss to Kent State, 68-55.
The Golden Flashes rank in the top four in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense. They forced the Cardinals into shooting their worst field goal percentage in conference play (32), and none of the nine Ball State players who attempted at least two shots shot better than 50 percent.
"We didn't take care of finishing," coach Tracy Roller said. "That definitely is a problem when you're playing a great defensive team. I just felt like there were possessions where we turned the ball over or had a layup and missed it."
Ball State (13-8, 6-4 Mid-American Conference West) had trouble containing conference leading scorer Lindsay Shearer in the second half. Shearer scored 19 of her 20 points after halftime. She played 23 minutes after sitting on the bench for much of the first half with two fouls.
"I thought we did a really good job off executing how we wanted to play her [in the first half]," Roller said. "But she is a great player. She really does a great job of drawing fouls and getting to the line. It's definitely easier to stop her when she's not playing."
DeMuth tied her career-high of 18 rebounds set against Kent State last year, two shy of the school record. DeMuth had 27 points against the Golden Flashes last season, but was 2-of-13 shooting on Wednesday.
Kent State (14-7, 7-3 MAC East) scored 23 points off 19 Ball State turnovers and had nine steals. The Golden Flashes led the MAC in forced turnovers and steals.
"Really, it was just a game where we they just were more aggressive, more physical than us on both ends of floor," Roller said.
Tina Bolte tied a career-high with five 3-pointers and lead Ball State with 15 points.
Ball State's 55 points was its second-lowest scoring output of the season. Roller said the low scoring output was a combination of the Cards lack of offense and the Golden Flashes' defense.
"We just couldn't match their scoring," Roller said. "We knew that if we couldn't do that, it was going to be a long night."
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