Ball State Holds Off Late Falcon Charge

Saturday, January 16

Bowling Green, Ohio

2:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

5-9, 1-4MAC

Ball State

12-4, 4-1MAC

Ball State

Bowling Green

Sydney Lambert hit a season-high 5 3-pointers en route to 17 points vs. BSU

Photo by: Larry Clapper

January 16, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Cardinals pick up 67-56 win at the Stroh

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University women's basketball team nearly came all the way back from a double-digit deficit, but Ball State University held off the Falcons' fourth-quarter surge Saturday afternoon (Jan. 16). The visiting Cardinals picked up a 67-56 win in Mid-American Conference action at the Stroh Center.

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All five starters scored in double figures for the Cardinals (12-4, 4-1 MAC), led by Carmen Grande with 18 points. Jill Morrison had 13 points, including a team-leading four three-point field goals, while Nathalie Fontaine scored 12 points and Moriah Monaco and Renee Bennett added 10 apiece.

Falcon freshman Sydney Lambert tied her season high by scoring a team-leading 17 points for the second-straight Saturday at the Stroh, while senior Lauren Tibbs added 14 points. Lambert hit a game-high five three-pointers, the highest total of her young career.

Lambert was 6-of-10 from the field on the day, including a 5-for-8 performance from beyond the arc. Tibbs went 6-of-11 from the floor as BGSU (5-9, 1-4 MAC) shot 42.0 percent from the field to the Cardinals' 41.5%.

After the Falcons had tied the score midway through the second quarter, the Cardinals scored the last 11 points of the period, including a corner three by Morrison at the buzzer, to take a 34-23 halftime lead. The lead reached 14 points after another triple opened the third quarter, but the Falcons battled back within seven points on multiple occasions in that third period, and trailed by nine after 30 minutes of play.

The fourth quarter saw the visitors go ahead by 12 points in the first minute, before the Falcons got within two points on freshman Carly Santoro's layup with 4:34 to go. BG could draw no closer, however, as Grande's layup began a 9-0 run that sealed the road win for the Cardinals.

Santoro had nine points and a team-leading six rebounds off the bench for the Falcons. BGSU's bench scored 18 points to just four for their Ball State counterparts.

The Cardinals broke on top with the first four points of the game, but the Falcons quickly responded during an evenly-played first quarter. Lambert answered a Bennett layup by hitting a triple off of a pass from Tibbs, and the hosts were down by a 4-3 score with just under two minutes gone.

Following a Bennett putback, Lambert and Tibbs teamed up again. This time, it was Lambert kicking a pass out to the senior center for a trey that tied the game at 6-6. Moments later, sophomore Rachel Myers fed Lambert for her second three of the day, and the Brown and Orange had a 9-8 lead with 6:34 left in the period.

The Cardinals, beginning a trend that would continue all afternoon, quickly answered, as Monaco knocked down a shot from beyond the arc. Bennett's third layup of the day made it a 13-9 game, and the visitors took a five-point lead when Morrison split a pair of free throws at the 3:41 mark.

But, Santoro dribbled around the arc, faked a drive and hit a pull-up jumper to cut the Falcons' deficit to three points. Tibbs was fouled and split a pair of shots at the stripe, and when redshirt sophomore Kennedy Kirkpatrick drove inside and converted a nifty layup, the teams were tied, 14-14, after one period of action.

BG took the lead when sophomore Haley Puk knocked down a shot from just inside the three-point line in the opening minute of the second quarter. The Cardinals, however, hit three free throws over the next two minutes, and a Grande three-pointer gave BSU a 20-16 lead. Senior Miriam Justinger, though, found Santoro for a triple, cutting BG's deficit to a single point midway through the half.

Justinger led all players with five assists on the day, tying her career high.

A driving layup by Tibbs tied the score at 21-all with 4:32 left in the period, and after Fontaine scored inside, Kirkpatrick's slick pass resulted in another Tibbs bucket inside. The Falcons and Cards were tied, 23-23, but the visitors would go on a double-digit run to end the period.

Grande's three-pointer with 2:58 left in the period gave her team a three-point lead, and after Fontaine hit two shots from the stripe, Grande connected again from long range, for a 31-23 BSU lead. Then, the freshman fed Morrison for a left-corner three as the first-half buzzer sounded, and the Cards took an 11-point advantage into the intermission.

Grande had 11 of her 18 points in that opening period, going 3-of-4 from the arc while playing the entire 20 minutes.

BSU's lead reached a game-high 14 points when Monaco scored from long distance on the first possession of the third period. But, Lambert came right back with a triple of her own. Both teams hit nine three-pointers in the game.

After Bennett sank two charity tosses at the 7:26 mark, the Falcons went on a 6-0 run, as Lambert got a layup to go, Justinger was fouled and hit the two ensuing shots, and Kirkpatrick drove down the left side of the lane and hit a shot with 5:30 left in the period. BG trailed by just seven, at 39-32.

Morrison restored her team's double-digit lead with a long-distance make, but Puk responded in kind, taking a Justinger pass and drilling a shot from the top of the arc. Santoro answered Monaco's layup with a jumper, but the visitors then scored four-straight points before Tibbs closed the third-quarter scoring with a strong driving layup. Ball State led, 48-39, after 30 minutes.

Morrison's triple gave the visitors a 12-point lead in the opening minute of the fourth period, and after Myers drained a three-point try of her own, Grande's layup gave BSU a 53-42 lead with 8:29 remaining. Lambert, however, took a Puk pass and knocked down a long-range shot from the left wing. Then, Lambert connected again, this time from the right side, and BG was within five points.

Another Morrison trey slowed the Falcons' momentum momentarily, but Santoro's entry pass resulted in a one-handed turnaround shot by Tibbs, and Justinger lobbed the ball inside to Tibbs for a quick layup off glass. When Santoro drove down the middle and hit an up-and-under layup, BG trailed by just two points, 56-54, with 4:34 remaining.

Again, though, the Cards responded quickly, as Grande hit a layup, and Fontaine's third-chance layup gave BSU a six-point lead with under four minutes to go. After a BG miss, Fontaine scored inside once again, and the Cards eventually built an 11-point lead with several free throws. The Falcons got within nine when Justinger got herself to the line and connected twice, but Grande capped the scoring with a pair of charity tosses.

Fontaine had a double-double for the Cardinals, with a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with her 12 points. BSU held a 38-27 lead in the rebounding department.

The Falcons now take to the road for a midweek matchup on the MAC's "West Coast." BGSU heads to DeKalb, Ill., to face Northern Illinois on Wednesday (Jan. 20). That game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. locally (8:00 p.m. ET). BG then returns to the Stroh to face Kent State (Jan. 23) and Eastern Michigan (Jan. 27).