Women’s basketball dropped its third straight game Sunday, as it failed to sustain anything on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.

The Huskies (8-13, 4-7 MAC) lost to the Ball State Cardinals (10-12, 5-6 MAC), 63-50, at the Convocation Center. The 50 points NIU scored is tied for its fourth-lowest offensive output this season, and the 18 turnovers it had is tied for its third-highest total.

“We’ve got to be a lot more aggressive,” said redshirt junior guard Danny Pulliam. “I would say that their defense, they just packed in, and we just did exactly what they wanted us to do, which was pass around the top and not get to rim, get to the basket, create for other people. I think that’s what made it hard for us. I don’t think necessarily their defense; we had unforced turnovers.”

The Huskies had minor runs of 6-0, 5-0 and 4-0 in the second half where they cut into the Ball State lead; however, Ball State got too many easy looks in the second half and held NIU at bay.

The Huskies trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half, but they were only able to get as close as nine points, which they did on two occasions.

“I thought offensively we started moving and got some good looks, [but] we didn’t finish our looks,” said head coach Kathi Bennett. “Defensively, we tried to increase our ball pressure, which I thought helped us, but we’d get the shot clock down under 10 seconds and fouled. … We were out of position, a step slow. We’d work it, work it and then they would get to the rim on us and we’d foul. That hurt us defensively in the second half.”

The Cardinals shot 50 percent (17-34) from the floor, but they did the majority of their damage with 3-pointers and free throws. They shot 45.5 percent (5-11) from beyond the arc and 70.6 percent (24-34) at the free-throw line.

Ball State converted 44.4 percent of its 3-point attempts in the first half, with three coming in the first eight-plus minutes of the game.

Forcing NIU to keep an eye on the perimeter, Ball State began to the ball inside. Its final 11 points of the first half came either via layup or free throws.

“To be able to hit [the 3-pointers] early, it probably loosened them up a little bit,” said Ball State head coach Brady Sallee. “They had to worry about that part of it, and then we started throwing it in the post. We got some cuts out of there, and I think did a pretty good job with our execution against, honestly, one of the best defensive teams in league. To get 63 on them, it’s like getting 80 on other people.”

The Cardinals closed the first half on a 15-4 run after the Huskies took a 14-13 lead on a Natecia Augusta jumper with 9:23 to play. NIU trailed by as many as 11 in the first half and faced a 10-point deficit, 28-18, at the intermission.

“We started really flat,” Bennett said. “The first 20 minutes, our energy level was non-existent. It wasn’t the team I know that plays defense, and I just thought we really struggled guarding anything, containing on the ball, rotating out, contesting shots; I thought we were really flat.”