In Tracy Roller's first season as coach of the Ball State University women's basketball team, she led the Cardinals on an eight-game winning streak.
The streak is the second longest in Ball State's 33-year history, behind only the 11 consecutive wins the Cardinals earned the year before. A victory tonight against Northern Illinois University at Worthen Arena would tie that eight-game mark.
Roller said the best thing about the past seven games is the various ways in which the Cardinals have earned their victories.
"The team has been able to learn from every situation," Roller said. "We've won in all sorts of ways, and that only gives your team more confidence. When you've been in every situation like we have, and you've been successful, you feel good about your chances when you face that situation again."
Ball State has also gotten off to its first 4-0 record to start the Mid-American Conference season since the 2002-03 season. That year, the Cardinals started the conference season 5-0 on their way to a 12-4 mark.
Ball State forward Julie DeMuth said the winning streak is significant because it has contributed to a strong start in the conference.
"Going 5-0 to start the conference would definitely be the most important thing because our conference record will be really important for us to get to where we want to go," DeMuth said. "That's big towards the end of the year because it determines who we play in the MAC tournament. That's where our focus is right now, and that's the reason we need every conference win that we can get."
The Cardinals' last win was at Eastern Michigan University Saturday. Eastern Michigan was considered the favorite to win the MAC West in the preseason poll. The Eagles had gotten off to a 3-0 record, including a 80-66 victory against Northern Illinois to start their conference schedule, before losing to the Cardinals. DeMuth said the win was one of the more important victories of the year for Ball State.
"We haven't beaten them since 2003 and playing there was huge, so that was definitely a big win for us," DeMuth said. "It was a big confidence boost for us and that's a win that is going to be huge later on in the year."
Though the winning streak is just one component of what has been a successful year, Roller said her team is looking for improvement instead of settling on its early-season accomplishments.
"It's not how you start, it's definitely how you finish," Roller said. "But great starts are important to solid finishes. So we appreciate what we've been able to do this season, but we still have work to do."
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