As hard as they tried, the Lady Toppers couldn’t keep Ball State at bay Monday night.

Despite holding numerous leads of seven points or more in the game, it took a missed three-pointer at the buzzer for Western (2-0) to escape Muncie, Ind. with a 61-58 win.

Head Coach Mary Taylor Cowles said it took everything the Lady Toppers had to will the team to a victory.

“We won that game tonight based on a team effort,” Cowles told Western’s Big Red Radio. “We wanted it more than they did, and we talked about that in the locker room before the game.”

The Lady Toppers won the rebounding battle 43-41, but it was two offensive rebounds late in the game that were the most significant.

Western held a 59-58 lead with 1:05 left in the game, and senior forward Arnika Brown was able to grab an offensive board off a missed shot and kick it back out to senior guard Kenzie Rich, who was then fouled.

Rich missed the front end of a one-and-one, but sophomore forward LaTeira Owens pulled down another rebound and found Rich, who was fouled again.

The senior knocked down both free throws with just seconds remaining, and Ball State’s last-second three-point attempt was no good.

Western had 19 offensive rebounds in the game, including 16 in the second half.

“They abused us in the first half and made us look really, really bad,” Cowles said. “I kind of challenged our ladies at halftime and told them that (rebounding) was a statistic where there was no reason for us to be handled that way.”

After falling behind 20-18 early in the game, the Lady Toppers responded with a 14-5 run to open up a 32-25 lead in the first half.

But Ball State responded with a 7-0 run of its own to tie the game 32-32 at halftime.

Western came out blazing in the second half, beginning the frame with an 11-3 run that pushed its lead to 43-35.

However, the Cardinals fought back once again, using a 12-3 to take a 47-46 advantage.

Owens answered with a jumper on the following possession, and the Lady Toppers never trailed again.

Brown led the way for Western with 13 points and 15 rebounds.

“We just came together, and Coach Cowles kind of gave us a piece of her mind in the locker room at halftime,” Brown said. “We just came back out and rebounded, which was the biggest key for us.”

Junior guard Amy McNear had 12 points and nine assists, while Rich added 11 points.

Western shot 35.7 percent from the field in the game and scored 19 points off of 23 turnovers by the Cardinals.

Junior forward Emily Maggert paced Ball State (0-2) with 22 points.

The Lady Toppers play their second game of a four-game road trip at South Dakota State on Sunday at 2 p.m.