After five losses, four blowouts and a season of heartache, Ball State's women's basketball team turned the tables and finally blew past its arch-nemesis with a 21-point victory against Bowling Green State University on Saturday.
Judging from the post-game celebration - complete with hugs, chest bumps and Kiley Jarrett heaving the ball to the rafters - the Cardinals' 68-47 win meant a lot more than a typical victory would have. Considering the bad taste lingering after its 14-point loss in last year's MAC Championship game, a defeat that doused Ball State's aspiration of playing in the NCAA tournament, you can't blame the Cardinals' players for their reactions.
However, after the final seconds ticked away and the celebration concluded, reality set in.
"I would guess there's a pretty good chance we will see Bowling Green in the [MAC] tournament," acting head coach Lisa McDonald said in the post-game press conference.
Considering the Falcons are three-time defending champions, I would say that's a pretty safe bet. Only, it won't exactly be the same team Ball State beat Saturday.
The problem for Bowling Green this season is the lack of experience it was left after five of its six top players graduated last season. The MIA list includes co-MAC Player of the Year Ali Mann, MAC tournament MVP Carin Horne, all-MAC honorable mention selection Liz Honegger and MAC sixth man of the year Amber Flynn.
In the wake of their departure, 10 of the Falcons' 13 players are either freshmen or sophomores.
"You could probably consider 11 of our 13 players really have been non-factors in any of the previous games [against Ball State]," Bowling Green coach Curt Miller said. "They're excited about beating the name on the jersey, and not necessarily our players because it's a whole new cast of characters for us."
Despite losing a group of players that carried Bowling Green to the Sweet Sixteen last season, the Falcons are still 10 games above .500. Under the tutelage of the best coach in the MAC and the lone returning starter, senior point guard Kate Achter, one can only assume the Bowling Green team Ball State would potentially play in the MAC Championship Game will be vastly improved from the squad that shot 28.6 percent from the field Saturday.
As Miller pointed out after his team's loss, this year has become the perfect situation for teams such as Ball State to take out the frustrations of losing to the Falcons during the past couple years. Bowling Green's most experienced player, Achter, has inherited the frustrating task of preaching that fact to her younger teammates.
"Everyone is going to play us tough, and not only do they want to beat us as an individual team, they want to beat Bowling Green period," Achter said. "It's really hard to convey that message to 10 underclassmen who really haven't had to experience that much. Winning over the past three years of my career has been great, but it's so hard to teach them everybody hates you and everybody is out to get you because they want revenge."
Perhaps Saturday's blowout loss, coupled with Ball State's ensuing celebration, did a better job of teaching that fact than anything Miller or Achter could say or do. Perhaps now that Bowling Green knows the feeling of being on the wrong end of a lopsided score, this rivalry between the beasts of the East and the best of the West can officially take off.
Perhaps that's the reason you'd never be able to judge Miller's mood after the game and know his team just suffered a 21-point blowout defeat - it was just one game.
As good as Ball State's victory felt for McDonald and her players, it's wise for the Cardinals to keep it in perspective. If not, heartache could again be waiting at season's end.
Write to Ryan at rtwoody84@aol.com
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