University at Buffalo
10-5, 2-2MAC
Ball State
11-4, 3-1MAc
Ball State Sneaks Past Women's Hoops, 68-63
1/13/2016 12:00:00β―AM | Women's Basketball
MUNCIE, IN – The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York women's basketball team (10-5, 2-2 MAC) dropped a closely contested road game to the Ball State Cardinals on Wednesday night by the score of 68-63. Joanna Smith led all UB players with 21 points, breaking the 20-point plateau for the third straight game and for the seventh time overall this season.
"I thought we played a full game of focused basketball tonight," said head coach Felisha Legette-Jack. "We had a couple of mishaps and they made us pay every single time. I really thought Stephanie Reid and Cassie Oursler got better this game. We got better tonight, even in a loss and I'm really proud of this team because they are preparing for a great opportunity in March."
Entering the fourth with the three-point lead, Ball State was able to extend the lead out to 10 with just over four minutes left in the game. The Bulls showed some serious fight as they used an 11-2 run to draw within one with 1:25 left in the game, the run was capped by a Karin Moss jumper. After a Ball State jumper extended the lead to three with eight seconds remaining, Smith was not able to connect on the game-tying three-pointer and the Cardinals escaped with the win.
After falling behind 4-0 early on the Bulls fought back to earn their biggest lead of the first quarter, 7-4, after a Katherine Ups three-pointer, a Joanna Smith pull up jumper and a layup from Stephanie Reid. After a back and forth nine minutes, UB got back-to-back jumpers from Mariah Suchan off the bench and then a pair of free throws from Smith to take the 19-17 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Bulls fell behind early on in the second quarter as the Cardinals notched back-to-back three-pointers to take the 23-19 lead. After falling behind by as many as five, the Bulls fought back as Gabi Bade recorded back-to-back jumpers and Karin Moss notched a transition jumper to regain the lead, 27-26. Ball State took the lead back but then the quarter was dominated by Smith as she nailed a jumper and then back-to-back three-pointers. Her second three followed the best hustle play of the first half as Moss dove on the floor and pushed the ball to Smith who called a timeout and set up the play on her three-pointer. The Cardinals scored six straight to close out the half as UB held the 35-34 edge after 20 minutes.
The third quarter was hard fought by both sides as the Cardinals were able to outscore the Bulls 17-13 in the quarter. After the Cardinals were able to gain a four-point lead, 42-38, Liisa Ups drilled her third deep ball of the game and Cassie Oursler notched a layup to give UB the lead, 43-42. Reid and Oursler then hit back-to-back shots but the Cardinals finished the quarter on a 6-0 run to take the 51-48 lead into the fourth.
Smith led all players with 21 points and also grabbed six rebounds in the loss for the Bulls while Reid finished off her solid night with 11 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals. Liisa Ups had her best game of the season as she was able to notch a career-high nine points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals while Oursler finished with seven points and seven boards. Moss put together a strong showing off the bench for UB as she finished with four points, three assists, three steals and two rebounds.
The Cardinals finished off the game shooting 41% from the floor while the Bulls shot 39.1%. Ball State was able to win the battle in the paint, 32-16 while UB held the 41-39 edge in rebounding. For the game, UB finished with 16 assists and seven steals.
The Bulls will return home on Saturday at 1:00 pm as they play host to Akron at Alumni Arena. Saturday's game will be the first game of a doubleheader with the UB men's team who will host Central Michigan at 3:30 pm.
