(BALL STATE RELEASE)
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - No road victory is easy, heck lately Ball State (8-5, 6-3 MAC) has taking its last four wins down to the final minutes, but today at Western Michigan (2-10, 1-9 MAC) the Cardinals managed to outlast their opponent once again, taking home a 78-71 victory Saturday afternoon from University Arena.
The Cardinals started out strong at the start of the contest, leading at the half 37-32. But the Broncos took a page out of BSU's last three opponents' books and continued to annoyingly nip at the heels of the Cardinals throughout the entire 40 minutes of action.
WMU's head coach Shane Clipfell, who was hired at the helm of the Broncos the same year (2012-13) that Brady Sallee took the reins at Ball State, both have the upmost respect for one another. Sallee said after the game that he gave a lot of credit to Clipfell for having a great game plan against the Cardinals this afternoon.
Clipfell's plan was well played in the third quarter, as the Broncos took advantage of the fact that BSU's star senior forward Oshlynn Brown had to sit on the bench due to early foul trouble.
The Broncos went on to outscore Ball State, 23-13, to take a 55-50 edge over the Cardinals heading into the fourth quarter.
But the Cardinals said, not so fast, we've got this, outscoring WMU 28-16 in the final stanza.
Sallee told his team with six minutes to play that they knew what they had to do to win this game and apparently the pep talk worked.
With the game knotted at 69-69 with 2:49 remaining in the contest, Brown completed a fast break layup to give BSU the boost it needed.
After that, junior forward Thelma Dis Agustsdottir, who led her team in scoring with 18 points, nailed a 3-pointer off the dribble to give BSU a five-point (74-69) cushion.
Although, the Broncos would score on their next possession, the Cardinals' late run was too much for WMU to overcome.
Sallee attributed the last few minutes of play to executing the ball well because that is what you have to do on the road to come out on top.
Three other Cardinals finished in double figures along with Agustsdottir. Her teammate sophomore guard Sydney Freeman finished with 16 points, while redshirt sophomore Anna Clephane ended the day with 14 and Brown with 10.
The Ball State women's basketball team continues Mid-American Conference action on the road at Central Michigan Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET in McGuirk Arena.
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