On the heels of its first two-game losing streak, the women's basketball team returns to the confines of Worthern Arena for a chance at redemption against Northern Illinois tonight.
Following hard-fought losses at Kent State and Eastern Michigan, head coach Tracy Roller said there could not be a better time for the team to be playing at home - where the Cardinals are 10-0 this year.
"I looked at the top five or six teams in the conference," Roller said. "Overall, those teams are 47-13, and 30-8 at home. Only top teams have gone on the road and won. We have to hold home court."
The Huskies (13-11 overall, 8-5 Mid-American Conference) defeated the Cardinals (18-6, 10-3) when the teams met earlier this season and junior Tamara Bowie said she is looking to get the win back. But looking past the obvious revenge factor, Roller - and her "never be satisfied" attitude - said the team just needs to get back on the winning track.
"More than anything, we just want to play good Ball State basketball," Roller said. "And it's been a long time for us. We need to play well, we have to."
The Cardinals have struggled against zone defenses all season, and while Northern has one of the best defenses in the league, Roller said she is "excited to see a man team" as the Huskies have only played man defenses all season.
The staple to the Huskies' defense is its 6-feet-4-inch center, Jessica Shattuck, who leads the MAC in blocks with 2.27 per game and is a candidate for MAC Defensive Player of the Year. However, Shattuck has struggled as of late and did not see action in the Huskies' last game.
"Shattuck hasn't been playing real well," Roller said. "She didn't start for them the last couple games, and if she didn't against us, that would be all right with me."
Nonetheless, the Huskies defense is still solid, especially in the post where Roller said the Cardinals will have trouble.
"The person who gets the ball in the post is almost a sacrificial lamb," Roller said. "(Northern Illinois) just sucks to the ball and then we can kick it out to the open man."
Roller said the play of the bench in key situations and everybody playing well is the way the Cardinals are going to have to play on offense in order to beat the Huskies.
"We really have to play well at every position," Roller said. "We have to be a team to beat Northern, and we have to play harder than they do. (Northern) is very tough."
In the team's quest for what Roller calls the "complete 40-minute game," the Cardinals have fallen short all season. But Bowie said she is not focusing on that, rather she wants to worry about the game ahead.
"The last two years we have done the same things over and over again (when the Cardinals struggled)," Bowie said. "Maybe that's what it is, focusing too much on what we did last game instead of working on what we need to do to do better."
"At Kent, our slow start put us in the behind. At Eastern, our finish put us in the behind. It really put things into perspective. We've got to come and to play and be able to finish."
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