Kent State Tops Ball State, 72-63, With Tenacious Effort
1/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
"I told our team before the game that we were going to have to win one battle before we worried about any of the others, and the battle we were going to have to win was the effort battle," said Lindsay. "We were going to have to get the loose balls, get the rebounds before we worried about anything else. I thought that was the difference in the game."
Kent State responded to the challenge with a hard-nosed game on both ends of the floor. KSU edged Ball State 45-31 in rebounds, including 19 offensive boards, as five Golden Flashes had at least six rebounds. The Flashes also nabbed 11 steals and converted 17 Ball State turnovers into 27 points.
"We came into this game saying we needed to play harder to win this game," said senior guard Rachel Bennett. "We went and got some offensive rebounds that gave us second shooting opportunities and played really well on the defensive end. That's what won us the game, was our effort."
Junior guard Taisja Jones (Dallas, Texas) led all scorers with a career-best 26 points, including 18 in the second half. Jones went 7-of-9 from the field in the second stanza and was 9-of-14 for the game.
Also in double figures for KSU was Bennett (Marion, Ohio) with 13 points, while Jena Stutzman (Berlin, Ohio) and Ellie Shields (Warren, Ohio) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Kent State got out to an 11-2 start on back-to-back layups by Shields, and with a 13-2 run later in the first half, the Flashes had a 32-22 advantage with 4:02 on the clock. Ball State answered with the game's next nine points, and with a buzzer-beating layup by Ty'Ronda Benning, the Cardinals trailed by one, 32-31, at the break.
In the second half, neither team could gather more than a five-point lead in the first 18 minutes of the stanza. But when it mattered most, a key hustle play by Shields and Kent State resulted in a five-point possession. With just under two minutes to play, KSU's Jones missed a layup, with Ball State securing the rebound. Shields jumped in and forced a jump ball, resulting in Kent State's possession.
However, a Ball State player was whistled for a technical foul on the play, which Jones converted into a pair of free throws. On the ensuing inbounds play, Yoshica Spears (Nome, Texas) canned a three-pointer on the left baseline to give Kent State a 67-58 lead.
From there, Ball State could get no closer than eight points as Kent State improved to 11-7 on the season and 5-2 in MAC action.
Ball State (9-10, 3-3) was led by Emily Maggert's 22 points and 13 rebounds. Audrey McDonald added 11 points and Danielle Gratton registered 10 points.
Kent State concludes its four-game home stand Wednesday, Jan. 27 when the Flashes challenge Central Michigan at 7 p.m.
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