by The Ball State Cardinals made the trip to Eastern Michigan to face the Eagles in their second meeting this season. The Cardinals went on the road and dominated the game with their scoring streaks and stifling play in the paint in their 83-68 win.
In their previous matchup, Ball State won a nail-biter in Muncie 78-74. Tessa Towers led the way in that game with 22 points agains the Eagles.
Towers came into this meeting with EMU off an impressive outing against Troy. Towers led the Cardinals with 19 points and nine rebounds in a 87-86 win against the Trojans.
The Cards entered their game with Eastern with a 10-1 record in league play and a 19-5 record overall. EMU came into this game 4-7 in MAC play placing them in eighth in the Mid American.
Ball State’s defense stifled EMU at the start of this game. At the 3:15 mark in the first quarter, the Cardinals forced Eastern to make just one of their first 12 shots.
While the defense was putting in work early on, the offense showed off their power in the paint. The Cardinals pulled down eight offensive rebounds and scored 14 points in the paint in the first quarter.
Throughout this game, Ball State dominated the paint against EMU. In the second half, Ball State added 22 points in the paint compared to EMU’s 12.
The Cardinals finished the game scoring 52 of their 83 points in the paint compared to Eastern’s 26 points in the paint. Ball State also won the rebound battle by 11 with a 46-35 win in that category.
Ball State coach Brady Sallee talked about his team dominating the lane throughout this matchup.
“We brought help from some different places,” said Sallee. “It was really a team deal that worked out pretty well for us.”
Ball State’s defense gave Eastern fits at times when scoring was hard to come by. The Cardinals forced EMU into a few scoring droughts to give them their big leads.
The second half started with an 8-0 run for Ball State which was then followed by an EMU 10-0 run to make it an eight-point game. After Eastern’s big run out of their time out, Eastern struggled to find their flow in their offense.
In the third quarter, the Cards put EMU through a scoring drought that lasted over half of the third and into the fourth. Ball State won the third quarter 21-10 and went on a 13-0 run until the buzzer ended the period.
In the fourth quarter, Eastern Michigan called a timeout with 9:06 remaining in the game. To that point, the Eagles hadn’t scored since the 5:25 point in the third. The Eagles finally got a shot to fall with 8:44 left in the game.
Coach Sallee spoke after the game about the streakiness and his team’s defense throughout the second half.
“I think we dictated their shot selection really well and then we rebounded the ball way better in the second half than the first half,” explained Coach Sallee. “When you make teams have to earn every single point they get, it gets real hard for them.”
Tessa Towers, Bree Salenbien, and Karsyn Norman led the way for the Cards in this matchup with Eastern Michigan.
Towers finished this game with 22 points and eight rebounds, Salenbien scored 22 points with five rebounds, and Norman dropped 18 points, seven boards, and five assists.
Ball State earned their 20th win of the year with their win against the Eagles. The Cards face Bowling Green next on Saturday, Feb. 14.
