In 14 games this season, the Ball State University women's basketball team (12-2) has experienced unprecedented success.
The Cardinals are 3-0 in the Mid-American Conference after amassing their best non-conference record in the program's history with a 9-2 record, including two non-conference tournament titles. However, Ball State coach Tracy Roller said the toughest obstacles in the Cardinals' schedule await.
After winning its first MAC road game Wednesday night at Central Michigan University, the Cardinals have seven more road games, including this Saturday at Eastern Michigan University. Roller said that the long trips her team faces in the midst of the conference season was one of the toughest challenges of the year.
"The trip itself takes a lot out of you, but there's even more factors," Roller said. "Not everybody is blessed enough to have the facilities that we have. So we have to go in the morning and have a shoot around to get used to the other team's gym."
Ball State junior forward Julie DeMuth, who leads the Cardinals in scoring (15 points) and rebounds (8.5) per game, said the Central Michigan overtime win gave the team confidence for the remainder of its road schedule.
"We probably had our worst first half of the year," DeMuth said. "Just to pull that out, especially on the road, was a huge boost for us. None of us want to be down like that, but coming back the way that we did gives us a lot of confidence when we face tough situations."
DeMuth said road games help prepare the team for the post-season, where many games are played away from Worthen Arena.
"Looking forward to the MAC tournament, we're not going to be at home in the tourney, we're going to be in Cleveland," DeMuth said. "So during the regular season, we use road games to help us get used to different environments, different gymnasiums, and just the different obstacles that we face."
Though Roller admitted the task of earning road wins is daunting, the coach said both she and the team expected to win every time they take the floor, regardless of the location.
"The theme has always been to take care of business at home and steal games on the road," Roller said. "We haven't beaten Eastern Michigan at their place since my second year as head coach [Feb. 1, 2003]. So we know the challenge is big, but we still think that we should win every game."
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