After earning the Mid-American Conference West Division championship and a first-round bye in the conference tournament, hardware is not up for grabs in Ball State University's last regular-season game.
However, for a team that finds itself on the proverbial March bubble like the Cardinals (21-5, 12-3 MAC), every game seems to build in importance. That will remain true when Ball State travels to Northern Illinois University, even if the Cardinals have clinched their first out-right divisional title since 2001-02.
Ball State senior point guard Kelsey Corbin said her team doesn't have a large margin for error as it tries to secure the first NCAA tournament bid in program history.
"I think a lot of people look at the game and say it doesn't mean that much," Corbin said. "But for us right now, every win is important, just in case we need to get an at-large bid. We need to get in the best position possible and to do that we need to keep winning."
A win would also give the Cardinals a three-game winning streak heading into the MAC tournament. Though it's nothing like the 10-game winning stretch Ball State went on earlier in the year, Corbin said it's important for the Cardinals to enter the MAC tournament with as much momentum as possible.
"We want to be playing its best basketball at the time we need to be, and for us that time is right now," Corbin said. "This is the wrong time for us to be taking steps backwards. I think [tonight] is important so we can add to the momentum that we already have heading into the MAC tournament."
If Ball State is to beat the Huskies (17-10, 8-7 MAC), the Cardinals will do so by playing a game of role reversal. Saturday, it was Ball State who hosted senior night for the Cardinals' seniors. However, tonight will be Northern Illinois' senior night.
The Huskies are led by senior Stephanie Raymond's 18.9 points and conference-best 6.5 assists per game. Fellow senior Kristin Wiener adds 15.1 points and a team-best 8.2 rebounds per game in the post.
The Cardinals learned Saturday how much of a boost the emotion of senior night can give a team. Against Eastern Michigan University over the weekend, Ball State used that emotional lift to earn an important one-point win, clinching the West Division title outright.
While the Cardinals expect Raymond and Wiener to have strong games in their last home contests, Corbin said her team needs to focus on containing the other Northern Illinois players.
"I think the fact that we just had our senior night helps us a lot," Corbin said. "We know how we felt [Saturday] and how important it was to get the win. Their team is going to be on that same type of high. The first time we played Northern Illinois, Wiener and Raymond had their 20 points, but we made sure the other players didn't have career nights. We need to do the same [tonight]."
Even with a loss, the Cardinals appear to be a lock in the Women's National Invitational Tournament for the first time in 4 years. However, Corbin said the WNIT isn't on her mind at all.
"There is no comparison between the two," Corbin said. "Being in the WNIT is like being second place for us. It's not what our goal has been since the beginning. The NCAA tournament holds the most significance for us and in order to get there we need to perform night in and night out. We put our hearts and souls into this season, and not making it to the NCAA Tournament would be a bad taste in our mouths."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
