With the regular season coming down to its stretch run and trying to gain momentum for the Mid-American Conference Tournament, Ball State University picked up a 66-60 victory over Northern Illinois University on Tuesday night.
The Cardinals improved to 12-15 overall and 6-8 in the MAC with the victory. The win assures Ball State will host an opening round game in the conference tournament on March 6.
Senior guard Audrey McDonald led the way for the Cardinals, finishing the game with 26 points and making six 3-pointers in the process.
"In the first half the rim was huge," McDonald said. "They were in zone and they just lost track of me. I'm going to shoot them pretty quickly too."
Junior guard Shannon Klei hit three 3-pointers, finishing with 11 points for the night.
Coach Kelly Packard put emphasis on shutting down Northern Illinois guard Marke Freeman and forward Mauvolyene Adams, who led the Huskies in the two teams' previous meeting this season.
Freeman finished the game Tuesday with nine points and Adams added six.
"Seventy-five percent of our discussions this week was defending Freeman," Packard said. "The box score from the last game showed Freeman had 33 points and Adams had 21 points. The next highest person had two points. We knew where we had to step up on defense, and we gave them more pressure and were more physical."
The same defensive pressure went for 3-point threat Kylie York, whom McDonald was given responsibility of defending. York finished with seven points and only one 3-pointer.
Packard is pleased with where the Cardinals are with two games remaining in the season. The second-year coach said she is relieved her team is through the tough parts of the season and believes if they play relaxed at the University of Toledo this weekend they can be successful.
"Last season, Toledo had about 4,000 people in attendance," Packard said. "To us, I feel we are getting an early MAC Tournament crowd and I want us to play relaxed in that game. I think for the first time the pressure won't be on us."
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