No. 1 Ball State Cardinals (24-7, 16-2) vs. No. 8 Western Michigan Broncos (12-17, 8-10)
The women’s conference tournament began with its top team dominating the opening quarter. After giving up a pair of early threes early and falling down 6-4, Ball State closed the opening quarter on a 21-9 run behind Madelyn Bischoff’s eight points to take a 25-15 lead into the second quarter.
The offense slowed down for both teams in the second quarter, but Ball State grew its lead to 14 with two minutes to go in the half. After a Western Michigan Free throw cut the lead to 13, the Cardinals scored five points in the final minute of the half to create a 38-20 halftime lead.
The Broncos made just one of 22 shots from the field in the second quarter along with three free throws, mustering five points in the second quarter. Western Michigan walked into the locker room shooting 25% while the Cardinals had a shooting percentage of 53.3%.
The Cardinal lead swelled to 21 early in the third, but a 7-0 run for Western Michigan kept its pulse alive halfway through the third quarter.
After allowing its lead to be cut down, Ball State answered with a 15-4 run, taking a 62-37 lead with a couple minutes remaining in the third, eventually taking 64-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
Western Michigan had its best offensive quarter of the game, scoring 20, but had its worst defensive quarter, allowing 26.
The lead was as many as 26, and the Broncos cut it to 20 just past the halfway point of the fourth quarter, but it was much too little, much too late, and the Cardinals responded again and coasted to a 82-52 victory.
No. 4 Kent State Golden Flashes (20-11, 12-6) vs No. 5 Miami RedHawks (19-10, 11-7)
Kent State opened the day’s second quarterfinal by building a quick 10-4 lead, but Miami went on an 11-1 run to take a 15-11 lead before the Flashes scored to make the score 15-13 entering the second quarter.
The first half of the second quarter featured sloppy possessions and missed shots on both sides, leading to a 22-20 Miami lead with under five minutes to go in the quarter.
However, the Flashes’ offense exploded, going on a 16-0 run including four straight threes, three of which were made by sophomore guard Mya Babbitt and one by senior forward Bridget Dunn.
After a timeout, the RedHawks stopped the run with a three of their own to bring the lead down to 11, but Dunn pushed it back up to 14 with another three-pointer at the buzzer, making the halftime score 39-25.
Dunn made all four of her field goal attempts in the first half with three of them coming from beyond the arc while Babbitt was five of six from the field and four of five from deep.
Babbitt scored 11 in the second quarter while the RedHawks as a team scored just ten.
The Kent State defense held Miami to 29.4% shooting in the first half and allowed just one basket, a three pointer, in the final five and half minutes of the second quarter.
Despite walking into the locker room with no momentum, Miami created some out of halftime, going on a quick 6-0 run in under a minute to bring the lead down to eight. The Flashes went on a quick 4-0 to push the lead back up to a dozen, but it was quickly followed up by a 7-0 RedHawk run.
Miami eventually cut the lead to four, but was held scoreless for the final three minutes of the quarter, allowing the Flashes to pull the lead back up to nine entering the fourth quarter.
Kent State shot just three of eight from the field in the third quarter, but getting into the bonus early in the quarter resulted in ten third quarter free throws, which the team made nine of.
The 54-45 lead quickly shrunk to four on a 5-0 RedHawk run in the first minute and a half of the fourth quarter
A grueling stretch ensued. Kent State did not score in the fourth quarter until the 4:28 mark of the fourth quarter, and it was just a free throw. It took the Flashes over six minutes to hit their first field goal of the quarter.
After their 5-0 run to start the quarter, the RedHawks went scoreless for five and a half minutes. It was Kent State who broke the stalemate, taking a seven-point lead before Miami scored again, and the Flashes eventually grew the lead to ten on free throws with 1:20 left.
Kent State struggled with its free throws in the final minute of the game, but prevailed 68-61.
“They knew there were going to be tough moments,” coach Todd Starkey said. “They have faced basketball adversity all season, and now we’re in a position where it’s not uncommon to see what that looks like, to be in tough games and to fight through that stuff.”
The Flashes will take on Ball State Friday at 10 a.m. in the first semifinal.
No. 2 Toledo Rockets (22-7, 13-5) vs No 7. Central Michigan Chippewas (14-16, 9-9)
After hitting three shots in the first two minutes, the Chippewas found themselves up 6-3 on the Rockets. However, the lead did not last long due to an 8-0 Toledo run. Down five, Central Michigan punched back, going on a 10-2 run to regain its three-point lead before Toledo cut the lead to 16-15 at the end of the first quarter.
The Rockets put up over 50% more shots than the Chippewas did in the first quarter, but hit at a much lower rate, going six of 19, whereas Central Michigan made seven of its 12 shots.
The underdog Chippewas continued their run into the second quarter, taking a 28-20 lead, making it a 22-9 run since they were down 11-6 in the first quarter. On its run, Central Michigan shot eight of 11 with one three-pointer and a perfect five of five from the free throw line.
Back-to-back Toledo threes trimmed the lead back down to two halfway through the second quarter.
Just as quickly as they committed back-to-back threes, the Rockets committed back-to-back offensive charges, leading to six straight Chippewa points, putting Toledo back down eight with three minutes to go in the half.
The Rockets started to get back into a rhythm before halftime, but it was Central Michigan that took a 36-31 lead into the locker room.
Similarly to the first quarter, Toledo shot 50% more shots than Central Michigan, but made a much lower percentage. The Rockets put up 18 second quarter shots, making only six while the Chippewas made six of their 12. Through two quarters, Central Michigan was 13-24 and Toledo was 12-37.
Central Michigan continued to put up quality shots to open the second half, starting two-for-three on its way to a 42-32 lead early in the third quarter.
Despite starting the second half on a 6-1 run, the Chippewas could not continue the run, and had multiple sloppy possessions.
The Rockets took advantage, going on a 13-2 run including nine straight to take their first lead since the first quarter.
A Central Michigan timeout did not stop the run as Toledo would go on an 11-2 run after, making it a 20-point swing on an overall run of 24-4 to go up ten.
The Chippewas would get a basket back late in the quarter, but still found themselves down 56-48 entering the fourth quarter.
Toledo shot eight of 13 in the third including three three-pointers and six made free throws while Central Michigan made just five of its 19 third-quarter shots with no threes and two made free throws.
The Rocket onslaught continued into the fourth quarter, with Toledo scoring the quarter’s first eight points to take a 64-48 lead.
In the third quarter, the Cipepwas had a stretch of nearly four scoreless minutes, and another stretch of just over four scoreless minutes, most of which came at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Down 16 with under five minutes to go and no momentum, Central Michigan needed to find something, but could not find enough. A 5-0 run to give the Chippewas a glimmer was erased by a 9-2 run by the Rockets, giving them their largest lead and a 76-58 victory.
No. 3 Buffalo Bulls (24-6, 13-5) vs No. 6 Bowling Green Falcons (18-12, 11-7)
The day’s final quarterfinal started off slowly, with no points for the first two and a half minutes until Buffalo got on the board first. The defenses continued to play well, with the score being 4-4 halfway through the opening quarter.
Only once in the first quarter did either team score two consecutive baskets, and after one quarter, it was the Bulls with a 13-10 lead on six of 15 shooting with one three-pointer.
Though the Falcons were only down three, they had made just five of 16 shots from the field including zero made threes on four attempts.
The two teams each had their fair share of turnovers as well, with Bowling Green committing five in the first quarter and Buffalo committing four.
The Falcons cleaned up some of their errors to start the second quarter, and those corrections led to the first true run of the game; a 7-0 that gave the Falcons a 17-13 lead.
After the 7-0 burst, Bowling Green went cold, going scoreless for nearly three minutes, but Buffalo was only able to score one basket in that span.
Just as Bowling Green went scoreless for nearly three minutes, the Bulls did as well, which the Falcons took slight advantage of, building a six-point lead in that stretch.
Buffalo passed the bad luck right back to Bowling Green, but similarly to the first opportunity they had, they did not capitalize, only scoring three, which cut the lead to three.
A Falcons’ three-pointer followed by a Bulls’ jumper, both in the final minute of the quarter, left Bowling Green with a 26-22 advantage entering halftime.
Despite Buffalo only scoring nine in the second quarter, shooting was not the problem. The Bulls shot at a rate of 44.4% in the second quarter. The problem was they only got up nine shots, which means 44.4% is only going to generate four made baskets in the quarter, which is not what coaches look for on the path to victory.
The reason the Bulls scored so few points in the second quarter was because they turned the ball over twice as many times as they made a shot, committing eight turnovers in the second quarter. A total of 12 first-half Buffalo turnovers, which led to 11 Bowling Green points.
As for the Falcons, they cut down on the turnovers, committing just two in the second quarter after committing five in the first quarter. Bowling Green also did a solid job of preventing Buffalo from scoring off of those seven total turnovers, allowing the Bulls to only cash in two points total.
After committing just two turnovers in the second quarter, Bowling Green committed two in the first minute of the third quarter, and after allowing just two Buffalo points on seven first-half turnovers, the Falcons quickly surrendered four in the third quarter.
It took Buffalo just over a minute to knot the game at 26-26, and after a Bowling Green two-point shot, the Bulls would take their first lead since early in the second quarter thanks to a three-pointer.
The Falcons cleaned up the turnovers again and settled down, coming right back with an elongated 21-7 run, including four three-pointers to take a 49-36 lead late in the third quarter.
Buffalo would knock down a free throw with under 30 seconds to go in the quarter, leaving them down by a dozen going into the fourth quarter.
After starting the third quarter three for three from the field with seven points, the Bulls finished six minutes and change just three for ten with a couple of free throws, resulting in eight points.
Buffalo still found itself down 11 with eight minutes to go, but an 8-2 run cut the lead to five with a little over five and a half minutes to go.
The Bulls had no more than six made shots from the field in each of the first three quarters, but had poured in five before the halfway mark of the fourth quarter.
Despite a free throw from Bowling Green, the run continued with another five points from Buffalo, cutting the once-13-point lead all the way down to one with just over four minutes remaining.
A made free throw tied the game with 3:35 to go, but a foul sent the Falcons to the line where they cashed in both free throws, breaking a scoreless drought of over three minutes, and giving them a two-point lead.
After buckets on the next three possessions left the game tied at 61-61 with under two minutes, it was a defensive strip and fast-break layup that gave the Bulls the late lead, but a pair of free throws for Bowling Green tied the game with 49 seconds remaining.
With a chance to hold for a shot with under five seconds left, Bowling Green tried to take the lead with a layup with 20 seconds left the ball was stripped away, giving Buffalo a chance to win in regulation, which they did with ten seconds.
The Falcons were unable to score, and it was the Bulls who survived by a score of 65-63, advancing to the semifinals to take on the Toledo Rockets in the semifinals at approximately 12:30 p.m.