Up by 20 with 7 minutes to go against Ohio, Ball State guard Shelbie Justice found a spot just behind the 3-point line in transition and stopped. The ball found Justice, and she let it fly.
It swished through the basket.
After a missed shot by Ohio, Justice ran back to the same spot on the left wing less than 30 seconds later.
The sophomore shot another three, and it again swished in.
Those shots sealed the deal as Ball State women's basketball beat Ohio, 77-46. The 31-point margin was by far Ball State’s largest margin of victory.
Ball State’s 77 points set a new season-high.
“We’ll take it and move on,” Ball State coach Brady Sallee said.
Ball State held Ohio to 32 percent from the field in the first half, and only improved in the second half. The Cardinals’ defense held the Bobcats to just five made baskets in the latter half of the game.
Sophomore Brittany Carter’s shooting helped her team get off to a fast start against the Bobcats. She hit two 3-pointers and made a layup in the game’s first three minutes. Carter finished with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field. She made three of her eight 3-point attempts.
Ball State held Ohio to just 19 points throughout the second half. Ball State itself scored 35 points in the latter half of the game.
At the end of the half, Brandy Woody had 17 points. She was on pace for 34, which would have set a new career high for her. She ended with 23 points off 6-of-6 shooting. Woody also made 10-of-12 free throws.
This came three days after scoring a career-high 29 points against Buffalo.
Ball State held Kiyanna Black, Ohio’s leading scorer, to 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting. Sallee attributed that to Justice’s defense, as well as help defense.
Freshman Nathalie Fontaine missed Wednesday’s game against Buffalo with a back injury. However, she started Saturday’s game, and finished with four points and six rebounds.
“[Fontaine] didn’t really want the contact a whole lot,” Sallee said. “Kind of jumped away from it … She missed some easy ones. I thought she was fairly active.”
She played 30 minutes, but looked to be in pain at times throughout the game.
Junior Katie Murphy was limited by fouls in her second straight game. She played just 12 minutes on Wednesday against Buffalo, but played 21 against Ohio.
She finished with seven points and five rebounds.
She’s an aggressive kid,” Sallee said. “I don’t want to take that away from her. I think if she starts thinking about fouls, it’s going to make it worse.”
Sallee went on to say that he’s not as concerned about the fouls as he was when the roster had fewer players on it. Now that the team is eight players deep, it’s not as important.
At 5-1 in the conference and looking ahead at a Western Michigan team that is currently 6-13, Ball State is playing loose and with confidence.
As evidenced by Justice when she shot her two 3-pointers.
When asked if she thought both shots were going in when they left her hands, Justice smiled, nodded and said, “Oh, yeah.”
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