A 10-year drought continued for NIU women’s basketball, as the team was unable to quench its thirst for victory in Muncie.

NIU (14-14 overall, 9-6 MAC) left Muncie, Ind. without a win just as it has every year since 1999, as the Huskies fell to MAC West-leading Ball State (21-8, 13-2), 54-65.

Though the game won’t have much impact with regard to seeding in the MAC tournament, the Huskies were looking to get on a streak as they move toward postseason play, now with only one regular season contest remaining.

It was the battle on the boards that decided this game, as NIU was out-rebounded 43-35 and allowed 15 offensive boards. The Cardinals were able to capitalize on the opportunities they had all night, scoring 16 second-chance points and 17 points off turnovers, despite NIU only giving up the ball nine times.

“If you give a team 60 seconds to score, then they’re going to score,” said NIU head coach Carol Owens. “We didn’t rebound like we know we can.”

The Huskies were led by sophomore Mauvolyene Adams, who put up a career-high 20 points, but they could not establish a balanced offensive attack. Redshirt senior Shari’ Welton was the only other Huskie to score over six points, with 10 of her own.

Leading all scorers was Ball State sophomore Emily Maggert with 22 points, just two shy of her career-best.

The teams were playing even for much of the first half when the Cardinals went on a 7-2 run to take a 30-25 lead at halftime.

Adams came out of the break on fire, scoring six in the first five minutes, but that is where the offense would stop for NIU.

With 15 minutes remaining, Ball State went on a 17-4 run to push its lead to 11 with 7:30 remaining. After Welton scored to cut the Cardinals’ lead, they went on a 6-0 run to open up their largest lead of the contest, 57-42, with only 3:58 remaining.

“We had our opportunities in a lot of different ways,” Owens said. “Free throws, not getting any transition points and letting them get offensive rebounds and scoring hurt us tonight.”

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