Cardinals lose in the MAC women’s basketball tournament; WBIT is next
The winningest season in Ball State women’s basketball history continues, but not in the NCAA “Big Dance.”
Ball State fans were shocked on Saturday to see the 2nd-seeded Cards lose in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) semi-final round to the 3rd-seed Kent State 65 to 50, at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
The winner of the MAC Tournament gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Kent State went on to win the tournament championship over 4th-seeded Buffalo 78 to 60 and will go dancing. Earlier, Buffalo upset top-seeded Toledo to get to the championship game.
Ball State still has a 28-and-5 record, and impressive wins over “Power 5” conference schools Georgia and Pittsburgh. Still, no “Big Dance” for the Cardinal and white. Instead, the Cards received an invitation to the new, 32-team field of the WBIT – The Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament – founded by the NCAA and considered a step up from the WNIT – The Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
The Cards are seeded 4th and will host Belmont, Thursday at Worthen Arena. Tipoff time will soon be announced.
Toledo from the MAC also made the WBIT field. The Rockets will play Cleveland State.
Stan Sollars is IPR’s “Morning Edition” host and a senior lecturer in Ball State’s Department of Media
