Attempting to leave its struggles in the Mid-American Conference East Division in the past, Ball State University's women's basketball team was looking for any kind of win Tuesday night.
The fact that the victory ended up being a 76-49 dumping on the University of Toledo, the Cardinals' largest margin of victory this year against the one divisional opponent they hadn't beaten, made it that much sweeter.
"It's kind of revenge," junior guard Porchia Green said of her team's 27-point victory. "Yeah, we needed it."
Before the game, Ball State Sports Information Director Matt McCollester presented acting head coach Lisa McDonald with what has become her team's key statistics in wins and losses. McDonald said the most important statistical categories consisted of team rebounding, offensive ball movement and scoring depth.
McDonald addressed her team about the statistical discrepancy in her pregame speech, and her players clearly understood the message. Ball State out rebounded the Rockets 40-28, en route to a 12-1 advantage on second-chance points. The Cardinals also produced 20 assists on 32 field goals and had five players score in double figures.
"In our shoot-around today, I just shared some of the key things I thought stood out in those stats," McDonald said. "It's glaring when you look at our MAC statistics in our wins and our losses. When we play good team basketball, when we rebound well and we get stops defensively, that makes all the difference for us."
Perhaps more important than any statistical improvement was the increased energy Ball State played with compared to its past couple games. In losing four of their past five games, McDonald said, the Cardinals have played in too lethargic a way for her liking.
Following her team's 15-point loss Saturday at Kent State University, McDonald said she had "a long, long talk" with her team to explain the importance of playing 40 minutes of enthused basketball for the remainder of the season.
"It's a conscious decision they have to make," McDonald said. "We talk about it almost every day in practice; we talk about it before every game, and they know it's on them to bring the energy. It's evident for everybody that when we play with this energy we're great, and when we don't have it we're a completely different team. They each took responsibility and accountability to be the one that brings energy."
Green flirted with a triple-double, recording team-highs with 17 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists on a single turnover. The Cardinals' defensive stopper also contributed four steals and a blocked shot in 31 minutes of action.
"I just want to say thanks to my teammates for getting me open and giving me the opportunity to score," Green said. "They also padded my numbers with assists."
Following Tuesday's postgame press conference, McCollester broke the news of Eastern Michigan University's 67-61 victory against MAC West Division leader Western Michigan University. Coupled with Ball State's win, Western Michigan's loss pulled the Cardinals within a win of a first-place standing in the division.
With four divisional games left to close out the regular season - all of which are against opponents the Cardinals have previously beaten this year - McDonald said Ball State's blowout win against the Rockets should spark a run to finish the year.
"We needed a game like this, especially after the Miami and Kent [losses] last week," McDonald said. "It just gives us so much confidence in who we are as a team and as individuals. Everybody can take something very positive away from this game, and we need to build on that because confidence is very key for us."
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