An unrelenting crowd and an unrelenting team would not allow Ball State to leave Savage Arena on Wednesday with an unbeaten Mid-American Conference record.
Sammi Mikonowicz scored 23 points, and the Rockets got help from its bench in handing the Cardinals a 70-66 loss.
Ball State (20-6, 12-1) was attempting to become the first undefeated MAC team since Bowling Green in 2005-06.
“What a fun basketball game to be a part of,” Toledo coach Ginny Boggess said. “The crowd was tremendous.”
The game between the MAC’s best team and the MAC’s hottest team lived up to the hype, with nine ties and 11 lead changes. Toledo led for 18 minutes, Ball State 16 minutes.
There were no lead changes after the first minute of the third quarter, however, as UT continually made plays at both ends of the court when Ball State had an opportunity to go ahead.
“In film sessions, [defense] was heavily emphasized,” sophomore guard Kendall Carruthers said. “We saw how we were getting beat, so we knew our personnel. We had to be heavy in gaps, and that’s what we did tonight.”
A 9-0 Toledo run midway through the third quarter sent the decibel level inside Savage Arena past a jet engine. When Evalyse Cole made a corner 3 to put the Rockets up 43-34, drawing a timeout from Ball State coach Brady Sallee, the 4,158-plus in attendance roared in unison.
The Cardinals, however, scored seven consecutive points without UT crossing halfcourt. On the next possession, they made a 3, UT turned it over on the in-bounds pass, Ball State made two free throws on an intentional foul, and then made a basket.
The Cardinals tied the score at 48 with a buzzer-beating 3 to end the third quarter, as Lachelle Austin’s shot spun multiple times around the rim before falling in as the horn sounded.
Toledo (19-5, 10-3) scored the first five points of the fourth quarter, and Ball State never got closer than two the rest of the night.
“We didn’t want it to be easy,” Boggess said. “We felt like they got shots they practiced when we were at Ball State. We felt like they got rhythm shots. And credit to them — they create those for each other. They’re a very seasoned basketball team. They’re a very well-coached team. So we wanted to be a little bit more disruptive tonight than we were at their place.”
Carruthers scored 12 points, Nan Garcia had nine rebounds, and the Rockets benefitted from 18 bench points.
UT had 11 steals and scored 19 points off turnovers. In the fourth quarter, Toledo was 13 of 14 from the free throw line.
MAC player of the year favorite Ally Becki was limited to seven points with seven turnovers. In January, Becki scored 26 points in a 77-63 win over the Rockets. Instead, UT had to deal with Alex Richard, who scored a game-high 33 points on 15-of-23 shooting. The rest of the Cardinals were a combined 11 of 37.
“It was kind of painful this whole week looking back at those clips and just having to watch it all happen again,” Mikonowicz said. “That just lit a fire in us. Nobody’s going to walk in here and beat us on our own court easily. We played with that mindset.”
UT didn’t outscore Richard until the 1:51 mark of the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter, it was Ball State 15, Toledo 14, Richard 13. Austin was the only other Cardinal to score during the quarter.
Richard was just getting started. She scored eight more points in the second quarter for 21 in the first half.
Not far behind was Mikonowicz, who had 16 points and six rebounds at halftime.
Toledo has now beaten the top six teams in the MAC and rides a seven-game win streak into Saturday night’s showdown with archrival Bowling Green at the Stroh Center.
“We want to continue to grow this program and build this thing,” Boggess said. “I think we're just getting started in our potential.”
First Published February 20, 2025, 2:21 a.m.
