KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team dropped its first Mid-American Conference match to Ball State 78-56 Wednesday evening. The Broncos were led by Kaitlyn Zarycki, who supplied 27 points and five assists after shooting 9-16 from the field, 3-3 from distance, and 6-7 from the free throw line. 

During the first quarter of play, the Brown and Gold were limited to nine points. In the first frame Wednesday, Jasmine Elder led Western Michigan with four points off two made layups. 

Later, in the second quarter, WMU managed to cut the Ball State deficit to eight points after recording a 10-6 advantage from the 7:37 mark to the 2:03 mark in the second. During the five-and-a-half-minute period, Hannah Spitzley and Zarycki combined for the Broncos 10 points. However, in the quarter's final minutes, Ball State began to pull away. At the half, the Broncos trailed 34-19. 

After the break, the Broncos saw a 25-point outburst in the third quarter behind threes from Spitzley, Zarycki, and Kaiden Glenn. On multiple occasions, the Brown and Gold managed to cut the deficit to 11 points, however, for every run the Broncos managed to put together, Ball State would counter with a scoring run of their own. Heading into the fourth, the Broncos trailed 56-44.

In the final quarter of play Wednesday, the Brown and Gold managed to pull within 10 points after Spitzley found Zarycki for a layup during the first minute of the fourth. After back-to-back buckets from the Cardinals, Zarycki knocked down one of her three made three-pointers on the evening to bring the Brown and Gold within 11 under eight minutes to spare in the fourth. Ball State would respond by concluding the final 7:46 of the contest, outscoring WMU 18-7, to take the MAC victory over the Broncos Wednesday. 

Up Next

The Brown and Gold will take on Bowling Green in a road contest on Saturday, January 6, at 2:00PM. Live Stats and livestream information is available under the women's basketball schedule.