The Ball State Cardinals were up by five with a little over 12 minutes to play, their dream of winning their first ever MAC women's basketball championship was within reach.
In a blink of an eye, or six minutes of play, the Cardinals were down by nine, watching the Kent State Golden Flashes run away with the title. KSU went on a 14-0 run, then extended that run to 25-2, and won their third championship in school history with a 73-59 victory over Ball State in Cleveland's Gund Arena Saturday afternoon.
"That was one of the longest walks I took from the locker room to [the press conference room] because I know [my] kids really wanted it," BSU Head Coach Tracy Roller said. "Unfortunately in the second half, Kent just wanted it a little more than we did."
Flashes' 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Andrea Csaszar dominated in the paint, both offensively and defensively. Csaszar scored 17 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, and blocked six shots. Her championship game effort, combined with her nine blocks in KSU's semi-final win over Miami (Ohio) earned her tournament MVP honors.
Csaszar's presence down low forced the Cardinals to fire away from the outside. Ball State took 41 three-pointers in the game, but only 10 of them went through the cylinder.
"I think we forced them into the type of game we wanted them to play which was shoot a lot of threes, try to take their athleticism out and really force them into a perimeter game, which I think was the difference in the game," Kent State Head Coach Bob Lindsay said. "Any time you can hold [BSU] to 26 or 27 percent shooting you have done a great job defensively."
A three-pointer by Kate Miller put an exclamation point on the 14-0 Kent State run. Her shot ignited a brief emotional celebration and brought the Kent State contingent of the 4,835 fans to their feet.
The Miller three-pointer gave the impression that the Golden Flashes were unstoppable. As it turned out, they were. A three-point play by Jamie Rubis highlighted the rest of the Kent State run, which was increased from 14-0 to 25-2.
For KSU, all that was left to do was watch the clock run out, celebrate, cut down the nets, and pack their bags for the NCAA Tournament.
Rubis scored a game-high 19 points. Four of her teammates also scored in double figures including Csaszar, Valerie Zona with 12 points, Miller with 11 points, and Katalin Kollat's double double - 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Johna Goff, who's three point shooting held the Cardinals in the game, led her team in scoring with 18 points. Shala Crook and Tamara Bowie also hit double digits, posting 12 and 10 points respectively.
News / Notes
The crowd of 4,835 was the second largest ever for the MAC Women's Championship game. Last year's attendance of 4,872 is the all-time record.
Following the game, the MAC women's basketball All-Tournament Team was announced. Csaszar, Zona, and Miller represented Kent State, Bowie was selected from Ball State, and Jennifer Youngblood from Northern Illinois was also named to the team.
