With 1:45 remaining on the clock in Ball State's game against Akron, junior guard Shanee' Jackson dished the ball to freshman forward Neschelle Williams, who shot it off the backboard and into the hoop, trimming Ball State's deficit to four.
But that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
The Zips, who own the best scoring offense in the Mid-American Conference, converted nine of their final 10 free throws, dealing the Cardinals a 78-70 loss, their first conference home loss of the season.
"It's just a hard one [to take]," coach Kelly Packard said, following the game. "I feel like we're plugging holes every time we practice. We've struggled to get a lot of fluency [and] to get baskets offensively. Right now, we're not a team that can score in the 70s and win.
"We've got to keep teams [in the] 60s or and maybe even into the high 50s to win while our offense is putting pieces together. Letting them get to 78 was a real concern for me."
An inability to convert open, uncontested looks at the basket led to the Cardinals making just less than 33 percent of their shots in the game.
Akron's high-powered offense also gave Ball State problems. Three Akron players reached double digits in scoring. Sophomore guard Hanna Luburgh recorded a team-leading 18 points, while classmate Sina King tallied 16 points and senior guard Natasha Williams tied her career-high of 11 points.
"That's core defense," Packard said. "Being able to sit down and make enough plays working on our off-ball positioning, making sure we're not giving up drives into the paint that look like easy buckets for them."
Ball State led by five points with 15:23 left in the opening half, but it was the first and final time the team held a scoring advantage. Akron strung together a 13-to-4 run, taking control of the game.
King, who averages nearly 12 points per game, guided her team to a 43-31 advantage at halftime. King scored 10 of her 16 total points in the first half, forcing the Cardinals to use the combination of sophomore forwards Katie Murphy and Jazmine Hitchens and senior co-captain forward Suzanne Grossnickle to defend her.
In the second half, the Cardinals did a much better job of containing King, thanks in large part to Neschelle Williams, who scored a career-high six points while coming down with five rebounds.
"I just tried my best to get around her and not let her get the ball or get deep position on me," Williams said.
The game became extremely physical, especially in the second half. After Jackson recorded one of her three steals on the game, Akron's Jasmine Mushington shoved Jackson out of bounds near the visitors' bench.
Jackson wasn't expecting such physicality from Akron, but said it's just how the game is played.
"We played to our expectations," Jackson said. "But [when] all is said and done, you have to be physical and play the game."
While the Cardinals (7-12, 2-4) suffered their first conference loss of the season at Worthen Arena, Jackson said she was expecting more out of herself and her team.
"I felt like we could've done better," Jackson said. "Out lapses were driving the middle. We could've done better [than] letting them score 78 points."
For more coverage on the Ball State women's basketball team, follow @PozzBSU on Twitter.
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