WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Eastern Michigan crushes Ball State to win by 31 points

Cardinals only score 14 points in the first half, shooting 13.3 percent

Ball State arrived in Ypsilanti, Mich., with hopes of sweeping its season series against Eastern Michigan. Those hopes were quickly erased, however, as the home team dealt the visitors a 74-43 thrashing on Senior Day.

The game got out of hand quickly for the Cardinals (9-19, 4-11), who turned in their lowest first half shooting percentage of the season, 13.3 percent.

Eagles' senior guard Tavelyn James, the nation's second-best leading scorer, tallied 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Her first half performance single-handedly outscored the Cardinals, who recorded just 14 first-half points, their second-lowest total of the season.

The losses have piled up for the Cardinals, who were defeated for the fifth time in their last six games. Another frustrating game didn't sit well with coach Kelly Packard, who said her team was outplayed and outworked during the first half.

"They're all frustrating," Packard said, following the game. "My biggest disappointment was the first half because we weren't shooting the ball well. You can't let that affect you the entire game. You can still rebound the ball, you can still aggressively get back in transition. I felt like the shots we were getting were uncontested, and we didn't score those. We let some of the other aspects of the game get away from us."

James, who led the Eagles offensively in the first half, gave way to her teammates in the final 20 minutes. Nonetheless, Packard praised James for her tremendous athletic ability.

"She's outstanding," Packard said. "She's the only MAC player to ever represent USA basketball. That's a phenomenal accomplishment not just for Eastern Michigan and for her individually, but for the conference."

While James and the Eagles cruised offensively, the Cardinals struggled to maintain a consistent transition defense, which added to the growing frustrations for Packard.

"If you look at fast-break points at [halftime], they were causing us to turn the ball over and they were able to score on those with uncontested layups," Packard said. "Those were easy points for them."

The Cardinals will have two days to prepare for their Senior Day against Toledo on Tuesday, and Packard expects her team to be fully motivated when the two teams tipoff.

"A huge part of motivation is to celebrate our three seniors and put all of our energy and efforts toward their last performance inside Worthen Arena and get everybody else on the same page to go out there and rally up and put together the best basketball that we can prior to the tournament," Packard said. 


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