In the final game of Hoosier Classic history against Valparaiso University Saturday, coach Tracy Roller told her team to play with a chip on its shoulder after remembering the loss to Temple University earlier in the week.
After losing 64-55 to the Crusaders, Ball State University finished the night shooting 40 percent from the floor; Roller said the loss was easy to explain.
"Valpo just hit shots and we didn't," Roller said. "It was a very simple game."
Valparaiso improved to 2-5 on the season as the Cardinals fell to 3-4.
The Cardinals finished the game 21 of 52 shooting with Valparaiso firing 21 of 45 for the night. It marked Ball State's second worst shooting percentage of the season, with the team's worst coming against Temple Wednesday.
The Cardinals did not fare any better from behind the arc. The team shot 21 percent on 23 attempts with Audrey McDonald, the team's leading 3-point shooter, making 2 of 9.
"[Shooting] is an inconsistency that we need to get down," Roller said. "We played a schedule that we wanted to be tested against and Valpo gave us that."
Ball State came out of the game early taking a 8-0 lead before the Crusaders responded with a 15-3 run led by guard Agnieszka Kulaga, who scored 11 of the 15 Valparaiso points.
Just as the Cardinals tried to make a comeback, Valparaiso ended the half with 10 straight points to lead 35-24 at the half.The second started better for Ball State as they came out of the locker room and ignited a 10-2 run started off by back-to-back Julie DeMuth 3-pointers. The Cardinals pulled within a basket at 49-47 but could not answer the final 11-2 run by the Crusaders.
"The defensive wasn't there and our offensive wasn't either," DeMuth said. "We just didn't come ready to play a full 40 minutes like we needed to."
After struggling offensively two games in a row and calling the offensive performance against Temple a fluke, Roller said she is happier with how her team played. But she said it is not where it needs to be in this part of the season.
"We were getting good opportunities," Roller said. "But unfortunately with the travels, the defense and being tired, we weren't as sharp as we should have been."
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