Despite a career-high 18-point performance from senior co-captain forward Suzanne Grossnickle, the Ball State couldn't come away with a victory in Oxford, Ohio Saturday afternoon, falling to Eastern Divisional rival Miami 72-61.
"I think it's really important for me to genuinely process discouragement fairly quickly and not ever move to a point where [we look] defeated," coach Kelly Packard said, following the game. "I really think we battled well. I thought our level of compete was strong. We did some things better offensively."
The RedHawks jumped out to a 6-0 lead after junior guard Courtney Osborn sank a 3-point field goal.
But the Cardinals rallied to take a 12-11 lead when Grossnickle executed a 3-point play after being fouled following her short-range jumper with 12:26 left in the first half.
With over six minutes remaining before intermission, Grossnickle made a pair of free throws to give the Cardinals an eight-point advantage, their largest lead of the game.
"It's satisfying to watch her have a game like that," Packard said. "It's just such a high level of productivity. Knowing the time she's put into her game as well as the patience she's had at Ball State playing a lot of her career-minutes behind Emily Maggert until this year."
Though the Cardinals held a 36-34 lead at halftime, the RedHawks roared back in the second half behind Osborn, junior forward Kirsten Olowinski and senior guard Maggie Boyer. The trio combined for 55 points on the afternoon and proved to be too much for the young Cardinals to handle.
"You're going to credit Miami for a reason," Packard said. "They've got the big three in Olowinski, Osborn and Boyer. Osborn winds up with 27 points, perfect from the free-throw line. Those were key differences for us. That's what she does."
Also plaguing the Cardinals (7-14, 2-6) were points off of turnovers. Even though both teams finished with 20 turnovers, it was the RedHawks who capitalized on the visitors' mistakes. Miami scored 27 points off turnovers compared to Ball State's 11 points.
The statistic didn't sit well with Packard.
"That's a staggering number," Packard said. "It says that we didn't make something our turnovers. They were able to capitalize on theirs and we didn't put any points on the board when we got them to turn it over."
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