On Thanksgiving evening, when many families were sitting down at a table eating a meal, the Ball State University women's basketball team was practicing in Flagstaff, Ariz.
That extra work paid off during the La Quinta Inn & Suites Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Cardinals followed an 83-67 victory Friday against the University of Vermont with a 76-61 win in the championship game Saturday. Ball State coach Tracy Roller said winning a championship in her team's first tournament of the season was a good confidence builder for her squad.
"Every game we are trying to get better for the end of the year," Roller said. "When you have a goal and complete it gives you confidence to play on."
The pair of wins gave the Cardinals a 3-2 record on the season and marked the sixth straight mid-season tournament championship for Ball State. Roller said non-conference tournament championships are important for her team to know how to approach big games.
"We felt like we have been playing well," Roller said. "We knew going into this tournament that we were going to face two formable opponents."
Despite beginning the first game with a 13-2 run, Ball State held a five-point lead midway through the first half. After the Cardinals regained a double-digit lead, Vermont scored 10 unanswered points forcing a 25-25 tie just before halftime.
The Ball State bench recorded 63 minutes against Vermont, the most playing time the bench has seen all season. Freshmen Kyleigh Jones and Emily Maggert led the bench with nine and 10 points, respectively, during their combined 44 minutes of play.
"The experience has been really good for all the freshmen." Julie Demuth said. "Bench experience will really pay off when it comes down to later in the season, so they are getting it now."
The Cardinals bench came through again on Saturday, playing a combined 50 minutes and contributing 14 points in the win.
"Going in that game we didn't know if [Demuth] was going to play," Roller said. "That really puts your bench into a position where they had to make an impact, and they were the difference maker."
Roller said she was also pleased with the improvement in Ball State's defensive effort. The Cardinals had 15 more rebounds than Northern Arizona and held the Lumberjacks to 37 percent shooting from the field and 29 percent in the first half.
"Coaches learn lessons and players get better at what coaches emphasis," Roller said. "I thought [the defense] was really aggressive, a grind-it-out type of defense that we emphasized."
Even though her team spent its holiday on the other side of the nation, Roller said the time spent together will help build team unity, an asset that will be important in the team's hopes for bringing home a Mid-American Conference championship later this year.
"This weekend was a real bonding experience for the team," Roller said. "It really pulled us together as a team.
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