(BALL STATE RELEASE)
MUNCIE, Ind. - Behind senior forward Oshlynn Brown's career high 33 points, the Ball State women's basketball team was able to lead the entire contest and hold off a tenacious Miami team at the end for a 85-82 victory Wednesday night in Worthen Arena.
Perseverance to get inside the paint (40-22) was ultimately the statistic that allowed the Cardinals (7-5, 5-3 MAC) to seal the win over the visiting RedHawks (1-13, 0-10 MAC).
Ball State also scored 15 second chance points and was sent to the line 45 times, with Brown shooting a program record 26 free throws. Brown also pulled down 15 rebounds for her 39th career double-double.
The second half was pretty much a game of H-O-R-S-E, at least that is how Ball State women's basketball ninth-year head coach Brady Sallee explained it after the game. He thought the Cardinals answered offensively by throwing the ball inside, but he gave Miami credit for taking advantage the Cardinals' game plan, especially in the second half. As far as inside the paint, he said the Cardinals were pretty efficient and patient with their ball movement to get it into the right hands.
Much like the action over the first 30 minutes of play, the final frame saw Ball State led by as many as 13 (71-58) at the 7:11 mark. However, some key 3-point baskets from the RedHawks, who ended the night shooting 48 percent (12-25) from behind the arc, put them into position for a possible comeback.
In fact, they got as close as one point (83-82) with 12 seconds left. Miami was forced to foul sophomore guard Sydney Freeman, however, who knocked down both shots from the charity stripe to push BSU's lead back to three. The RedHawks made it down the court and got the ball into the hands of it's leading scorer Peyton Scott (19 points). Luckily, her last-second, game-tying 3-point attempt went long to give BSU the ball game.
Junior forward Thelma Dis Agustsdottir started out hot, knocking down a long jumper and 3-point basket for the first points of the game. That effort helped the Cardinals jump out to an impressive 22-4 advantage with 3:03 to play in the first quarter.
Miami answered quickly though, closing the first frame with a 15-2 scoring spree to cut Ball State's lead to five (24-19) as the teams headed into the second quarter.
It was like déjà vu in the second period, as the Cardinals pushed their lead back up to nine (28-19) with less than a minute shaved off the clock after Freeman threaded the needle to Agustsdottir for the fast break layup. Again, Miami kept crawling back into the ball game to come within five (35-30) with 5:44 left in the half.
Brown answered with four straight points that seemed to give BSU another scoring boost but the RedHawks said not so fast again, making it just a six-point (44-38) ball game at intermission.
Other key players in tonight's game were led by Agustsdottir who finished the night with 16 points. Freeman also reached double figures with 15 points and Clephane rounded out the double-digit scoring with 12.
The two biggest stats at the half were points in the paint for Ball State (22-9), and 3-pointers for Miami who hit a staggering 50 percent (7-14) while the Cardinals shot just 37 percent (3-8) from behind the arc.
The Ball State women's basketball team returns to the road Saturday when it travels to Western Michigan for a 2 p.m. ET tipoff in Read Fieldhouse.