MUNCIE, Ind. -- Missouri State faced a 15-point deficit less than 12 minutes into the game Monday, but was unable to complete a comeback after cutting Ball State's lead to single digits several times in the second half in a 70-58 season-opening loss inside Worthen Arena.
    
The Lady Bears (0-1) missed their first seven shots from the field and trailed 17-8 after a quarter, and the Cardinals (2-0) hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the second period for a 23-8 lead with 8:03 left until halftime. 

Freshman Elle Ruffridge knocked down a triple with 4:54 left to make it 27-16, and the Cardinals answered with a 6-0 run and took a 33-19 lead into intermission.

Missouri State turned two steals into four points in the first 30 seconds of the second half to pull to 33-23 on a Liza Fruendt 3-point play, and traded 3-pointers for 36-26 on an Alexa Willard trey 26 seconds later before Ball State pushed the margin back to 16 points at 47-31.

Shameka Ealy scored five points in an 8-0 MSU run to make it a single-digit game at 47-39 with 1:39 left in the third quarter, and Willard and Aubrey Buckley scored for single-digit deficits early in the fourth period, with each met by one of Ball State's 10 3-pointers in the game.

A Fruendt triple with 4:49 left for a 58-47 score was the closest MSU would get after that, despite shooting 52 in the second half.

Fruendt led MSU with 14 points and seven rebounds, and Danielle Gitzen added 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. The Lady Bears shot 36.8 percent overall compared to .394 for the Cardinals, and went 8-for-24 from beyond the arc. MSU won the rebounding battle 45-39.

Missouri State makes it home debut Wednesday at 8 p.m. against Central Missouri. The Jennies are 2-0 and ranked 13th in the preseason NCAA Division II Coaches Poll.