Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Ball State*
Women's Basketball Falls to Ball State, 57-47.
1/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2006
MUNCIE, Ind. - A field goal drought early in the second half that lasted over 10 minutes was the undoing of Central Michigan University women's basketball as it dropped a 57-47 decision at Ball State on Saturday night.
The Cardinals improve to 9-5 on the year, 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference while CMU drops to 9-5, 0-3 in the MAC.
The 47 points is a season-low for the Chippewas as they shot just 30.8 percent for the game while Ball State finished with a 45.7 field goal percentage. CMU did record 15 steals and forced BSU into 24 turnovers, but also committed 21 turnovers themselves.
Ann Skufca led CMU with 11 points and three assists despite playing just 20 minutes because of foul trouble. Chasidy Myers and Sharonda Hurd both tallied nine and Hurd also pulled down a game-high eight boards. Ball State was led by Stephanie Douglas with a game-high 14 tallies with Tina Bolte adding 12 more.
The two squads went back-and-forth over the first 12 minutes before the Cardinals began to pull away. CMU took a 18-17 lead with a runner by Erin Kuhl but Bolte sparked BSU with a three-pointer followed 30 seconds later by a lay up from Krista Stewart. Bolte than capped the 7-0 run with a jumper to give the Cardinals a 24-18 lead with 5:03 left.
Ball State remained in front the rest of the half, holding a 30-25 lead at the break. Bolte had a nine in the frame to lead BSU while Skufca also racked up nine for CMU.
CMU got within three a minute and a half into the second, but would go cold from the field over the next 10 minute which allowed Ball State to go on a 13-3 run which led to a 43-30 lead with 8:32 minutes left. BSU's Douglas had seven of her squad's 13 points during that stretch.
The Chippewas answered with a 7-0 run to pull within six with 7:20 remaining, 43-37. Hurd ignited her squad by notching two of her team-high four steals during that stretch.
Unfortunately BSU answered and pushed it back to 10 before CMU made another run in the final five minutes. With the Cardinals up 51-41, Hurd scored four-straight points to get CMU back within six at the three minute mark, but again Ball State had an answer, this time with Julie DeMuth. DeMuth hit back-to-back jumpers to push the lead back to 10 with only two minutes left, wrapping up the win for Ball State.
BSU was able to win the rebounding battle, 37-32, and also tallied more assists, 12-10, while both teams had four blocks. The Chippewas finished better from three and the line, going 2-for-6 from beyond the arc compared to Ball State's 3-for-10 mark. CMU also was 13-of-16 (.722) at the line while the Cardinals finished 12-of-19 (.632).
The Chippewas return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 18, when they travel to Toledo, Ohio to face the Rockets. Tip off in Savage Hall is set for 7 p.m.
