Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

TOLEDO, OH - Julie DeMuth tallied 26 points and 19 rebounds to lead Ball State to a 66-50 victory over Toledo on Wednesday night at Savage Hall.

Lisa Rusche added nine points and nine rebounds for the MAC West leading Cardinals (19-4, 10-2).

Ball State built a big lead in part because of its rebounding advantage. Three players grabbed at least eight caroms, including Porchia Green with eight. BSU had 43 total rebounds, compared to 36 for the Rockets (8-16, 4-8 MAC).

"Ball State certainly rebounded the basketball and shoot it better than we did tonight," Toledo Head Coach Mark Ehlen said. "We also did not have any answer for Julie DeMuth."

Senior Danielle Bishop led Toledo with 12 points and seven rebounds, while classmate Savannah Werner added 10 points.

BSU exploded out of the gates and scored eight of the first 10 points. DeMuth did a majority of the damage with six points. The Rockets had trouble finding the range early on and missed seven of their first eight field-goal attempts.

BSU continued to shoot the ball well as the first half continued and a pair of triples from Tina Bolte pushed its advantage to 24-9 with 9:39 left.

Over the next two-plus minutes, UT relied on a pair of baskets from junior Olivia Terry and another from freshman Lisa Johnson to cut the deficit to 27-18 with 7:00 minutes remaining.

The nine-point difference was the closest the Rockets would get the rest of the contest. UT was held to only two points over the final seven minutes of the half and trailed 35-20 at the intermission. The home team was limited to only 30.8 percent (8-of-26) shooting in the first stanza with 11 turnovers. The Cardinals did not fare much better shooting the basketball, connecting on 35.3 percent (12-of-34). BSU's DeMuth was the difference as she had her way on the inside and outside, tallying 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Despite facing a large deficit, Toledo did not go quietly to begin the second half and used a mini 13-8 run to make it a 10-point contest. The Rockets' Bishop fueled the run with a pair of triples and the score was 43-33 with 11:47 left.

UT continued to put up a fight as the second stanza wore on, but time was a factor. The Midnight Blue and Gold received a three-point play from Johnson, who finished with nine points and seven rebounds, and two free throws by junior Ta'Yani Clark to close the margin to 54-45 with 4:47 remaining in regulation.

"Lisa had a good game for us," Ehlen said. "She played hard and with some energy, which was good."

Unfortunately, the home team could get no closer and suffered their fourth loss in the last five meetings to BSU.

"We came out in the second half and played with some heart," Ehlen said. "We pulled within nine, but we couldnt't put the ball in the basket to make it closer. We had some people trying to hard and others not trying enough."

UT finished the game shooting only 32.2 percent (19-of-59) and 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the charity stripe. Toledo was also guilty of committing 19 turnovers.

The Rockets return to action on Saturday, Feb.17 when they travel to Ypsilanti, MI to battle West Division rival Eastern Michigan. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m. in the Convocation Center.