The Ball State University women's basketball team did not want this Akron game to come down to a last-second shot. Tina Bolte and Raechelle Hampton made sure it didn't.
Bolte and Hampton combined to score the first 13 points of the game to give the Cardinals more than enough cushion as they cruised to a 71-46 victory in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Hampton, who finished with 11 points, said the light week of practice enabled the Cardinals to come out with some energy.
"We came out focused and ready to play," she said. "We had a lot of intensity."
Botle, who led Ball State with 14 points, was four of eight from three-point land and hit two of those in the first three and a half minutes of the game.
"I think last time we kind of lost our focus because we didn't play well last time," Bolte said. "This game we focused for forty minutes and that was the difference."
The last time these two teams squared off, Bolte nailed a three-pointer with nine seconds left to give the Cardinals a 67-66 win.
Ball State, which traditionally plays a man defense, came out in a 2-3 zone and stayed in it the entire game, with Porchia Green and Kiley Jarrett pressing in man-to-man until the Zips reached the timeline. The reason for the defensive switch was the injury to Akron's point guard, Krissy Marco, who tore her ACL late in the season. With inexperienced players bringing the ball up the court for Akron, coach Tracy Roller wanted to exploit that weakness.
"I am not a zone coach by any means and I was trying to be really patient on the sideline," Roller said. "Our best on-ball defender is Porchia Green. Just playing the zone, we could keep her up there. No matter who brought the ball up, she'd be the one up there pressuring and everyone else could just get back."
With 11:30 left to go in the game, Akron's Jessica Deville hit a lay-up to complete an 8-0 run and close the Cardinals' lead to 46-35. Roller then made a defensive adjustment her team had not practiced all year, having the guards at the top of the 2-3 zone take responsibility of the high post instead of the post players, as Akron was getting easy looks in the low post because of it.
The adjustment worked, as Botle nailed a three-pointer to spearhead another 13-0 run and end any hope of a Zips comeback.
"At this time of year you got to do whatever you can," Roller said. "You got to play whatever you need to do to win games. We went away from our norm."
For the lone senior on the team, Hampton, it was an emotional game for her as it was the last home of her career.
"I just came into the game and said it was the last game I had at Worthen (Arena), so give it everything I got so I don't have any regrets," Hampton said.
Kelsey Corbin chipped in nine points to help aid the Cardinals victory. Jessie Crooks led Akron with 19 points.
With the win, the Cardinals advanced to the quarterfinals, where they will take on Kent State at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
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