What happened

Women’s basketball (10-14, 6-8 MAC) suffered a 51-50 loss to the Ball State Cardinals (15-10, 11-3 MAC) Saturday at the Convocation Center as senior guard Amanda Corral’s buzzer beater was waved off.

How it happened

Corral caught an inbounds lob in a wide-open lane and sank the basket as the ball took a bounce off the rim with 0.3 seconds left and NIU trailing 51-50. The refs initially waved off the shot, and after review they confirmed the shot as no good.

The Huskies were in such a fortuitous situation to have the chance to win by scoring seven-straight points after trailing 51-43 with 1:26 to play. Freshman Kelly Smith and redshirt senior Jenna Thorp scored layups and redshirt junior Lacia Gorman drained a 3-pointer to pull NIU within 51-50 with 0:36 left. The Cardinals let NIU hang around as they missed the front end of three one-and-ones in the final 0:54 after the Huskies began intentionally fouling.

The Huskies started slowly out of the gates as the Cardinals jumped to a 13-4 lead at the 14:44 mark to open the game. Trailing 15-8, NIU used an 8-0 run over a two-minute stretch to take its first lead at 16-15 with 9:28 left in the opening frame. From there the first half was played in a four-point window, and the teams went into intermission with the score knotted 23-23.

The number: Five

That’s the number of free throws the Huskies made on 10 trips to the free-throw line. They came into the game averaging 10.6 makes and 15.3 attempts per game.

Northern Star players of the game

Corral dropped a team-high 16 points in the loss on Senior Night. She carried the Huskies in the first half, scoring 13 of NIU’s 23 points. Her made basket to end regulation was waved off as the Huskies lost by the slimmest of margins, 51-50.

Ball State junior Nathalie Fontaine re-emerged in the second half after going 20:29 between baskets. She scored six of the Cardinals’ 10 points in the opening 4:41 but didn’t score again until 5:10 into the second. She scored 12 points and tied for team highs in rebounds (five) and assists (three). She helped Ball State outscore NIU 30-8 in the paint.

The quote

“Ally [Lehman] did a great job on the lob,” said head coach Kathi Bennett. “Amanda [Corral] set her girl up great. Kelly [Smith] set a great screen. … I thought these guys did a great job of executing it.”

Up next

The Huskies host the Central Michigan Chippewas (12-13, 7-7 MAC) 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Convocation Center.