The Women’s basketball team’s Mid-American Conference Tournament run ended earlier than most believed it would.
The Falcons came into today’s semifinal game as the number one seed in the tournament and ranked as the number 25 team in the country. They were also projected as of Friday morning to be a number ten seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“I feel like we have completed a body of work that should get us in the (NCAA) field,” head basketball coach Jennifer Roos said. “I know that is easier said than done, but I feel like this team is deserving of a bid.”
Some of that is projected to change come next week all thanks to Ball State University. The Cardinals came into Quicken Loans Arena for this semifinal match and defeated the Falcons 73-55 giving the Falcons their worst defeat of the season.
“I am extremely proud of our team today,” Roos said. “They played extremely hard. I told them in the locker room to walk out with their head still held high one loss does not define their season.”
The Cardinals came in as the fifth seed making this their third game in as many days, but they did not look tired in this game as they came out and shot almost 48 percent from the field and 45 percent from behind the three point arc. They were led by junior Shelby Justice who scored 21 points with 16 of those points coming in the first half.
“Honestly they have been on this court since Wednesday, they know the feel of the court and they just weren’t missing,” senior Jillian Halfhill said. “We were pushing up on them with our hands in their face and they were dropping them. Kudos to them for that because we couldn’t get our shots to drop.
The Falcons were led by Erica Donovan who scored 17 points and recorded eight rebounds. They out-rebounded the Cardinals 37-32 but they could not get enough stops late to make a comeback. There were multiple moments in the second half when the Falcons got the lead down to single digits but could not cut into the lead any further.
“I thought we played good really good defense at times,” Roos said “They had a few buzzer beaters that when they went up I thought we could get the rebound but they went in for them…. Their shooting was contagious.”
With this loss the Falcons will have to sit and wait for Selection Monday to see if they are given a bid to The NCAA Tournament.
“We put a lot of work in…. I just feel like our body of work is incredible,” Halfhill said. “To know that we don’t know is frustrating but I just feel like we really deserve it.”
If they are not given a bid to the NCAA Tournament they will be playing in the National Invitational Tournament as they were given an automatic bid from being named the MAC regular season champions.
“With this being my first year playing with them I can honestly say I will miss the seniors,” Donovan said. “I can tell them that it is not over for Lex, Jillian, Stein even Katrina on the bench cheering for us. It is not over like Roos said we still have the postseason.”
