The Ball State women's basketball team made a strong comeback run at the end of the game, but it was not enough as they were defeated by Northern Illinois 65-62.
The Cardinals began the game slow, failing to produce momentum on offense or defense in the first half due to the Huskies' quick offense.
Ball State was slow and inconsistent with the ball, with nine turnovers at the break.
"We can't expect to win when we play slow for most of the game and only at our full potential for five minutes," senior Shelbie Justice said. "As a team we will try to rally everyone up but each individual needs to buy into it to fix it."
Though they struggled, Ball State was able to keep it close, only down 34-29 going into the locker room.
The second half was a much different story however, as the Huskies took advantage of Ball State's miscues, expanding their lead and controlling the pace of the game. With just under four minutes left in the game, Northern Illinois was up by 13 points and seemed to be headed to a victory.
Ball State responded with a 10-0 run, however, and brought the lead down to three with less than 30 seconds on the clock.
The Cardinals had two chances to tie the game, but both shots were off the mark.
"We were low energy on the floor and it's something that I'll be looking closely at to see if its a blip or something we need to work on," head coach Brady Sallee said.
Ball State finished with 16 turnovers, and Northern Illinois scored 21 points off those giveaways.
The offense also struggled from beyond the arc, going 4-15 (26.7 percent) from three-point range.
Despite the drop in shooting percentage, Sallee is focused on the other setbacks that led to the team's second straight home defeat.
"I'm not too worried about shots from three-point range, we've done well there most of the season," Sallee said. "I'll be going to through a lot more film to solve the other issues from tonight before I look at three-point range."
With the loss, Ball State is back to .500 at 10-10 on the season and 6-3 in the Mid-American Conference. The Cardinals will look to regroup this week, as they have a week to prepare for their next game against Toledo (11-7; 4-3 MAC).
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