As fans in Worthen Arena honored lone senior guard Nakeya Penny, Ball State Women's Basketball (8-22, 2-15 MAC) was not able to keep control of the game as they gave up a 13-point lead and fell short in the regular season finale to Eastern Michigan (13-16, 6-12 MAC), 67-57.
The Cardinals defense had an immediate impact making things difficult for Eastern Michigan holding them scoreless for about eight minutes. The Eagles finally got on the board as senior guard Danielle Minott knocked in a bucket making it 11-2. The Cardinals were able to hold a 15-2 advantage in at the end of the first quarter.
“We’ve showed here over the last week or so that when we fight we can give ourselves a chance against anybody and today was no different,” head coach Brady Sallee said.
Sophomore guard Maliah Howard-Bass was the anchor for the Cardinals offense in the first half as she scored 12 of her 18 total points. She finished the game 8-21 from the field and made two of her 3-point attempts. Ball State headed into the break with a 26-17 lead.
“She’s [Howard-Bass] attacking the glass a little bit more and it’s making her a little bit tougher to guard," Sallee said. "She’s a multi-dimensional player and it’s good to see."
Howard-Bass execution Saturday made it her second straight game having 18 or more points for the Cardinals.
However, coming out into the second half Eastern Michigan looked like a different team and started to cut into the Ball State lead. They took their first lead of the game in the fourth quarter with nine minutes remaining 46-45 and never looked back.
After a dreadful shooting performance in the first half shooting 7 of 34 as a unit. The Eagles were able to regroup and get back on track making 18 of 35 in the second half which gave them the advantage.
“You give Eastern Michigan credit, they hit some timely shots and more importantly came up with some timely rebounds and hustle plays that got them those shots,” Sallee said.
Eastern Michigan received double-digit scoring outings from three of their players as freshman guard Jenna Annecchiarico scored a game-high 19 points, Minott put up 16 and sophomore guard Courtnie Lewis added 10.
Penny wasn’t able to find any rhythm in her final regular season game as a Cardinal as she faced foul trouble throughout the contest. She finished with two points, but most of her impact came on the defensive side of the ball as she came up with three steals.
Ball State faces Toledo at Savage Arena on Monday at 7 p.m. in the first round of the MAC tournament.
Contact Daric Clemens with any comments at diclemens@bsu.edu or on Twitter @DaricClemens.
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