Ball State University senior forward Danielle Gratton knows teammate Emily Maggert's pain.
Maggert sported a ripe black eye and a new protective face mask for last night's game against Northern Illinois University after being elbowed attempting a steal in Saturday's win at Western Michigan University.
Gratton herself sported a facemask last season, and said she understands why Maggert, the Mid-American Conference's second-leading scorer, struggled to get any momentum going throughout the entire game.
With the mask, Maggert scored just six points on 2-of-12 shooting against the Huskies, more than 12 points under her 18.3 points-per-game season average. At times, she appeared to struggle with her peripheral vision when trying to convert shots in the paint and grab rebounds.
"It's difficult at first with your peripheral vision, and just breathing in general," Gratton said. "It's a lot of compression on your nose and you're just not used to it."
Though Maggert was unable to contribute as much on the scoreboard as she typically would, her presence was definitely still felt on the boards.
Maggert, who came into the game averaging 11 rebounds per game, pulled down nine rebounds against the Huskies, including a game-high-tying five offensive rebounds.
"She did fine tonight — if you look at her stats tonight, she got five [offensive] boards, so it's obviously not affecting her rebounding at all," Gratton said. "It's a frustration that she'll work though, and by the next game she'll be back to her old self."
Ball State coach Kelly Packard was pleased with the offensive production of Gratton and junior guard Shannon Klei in Maggert's absence.
Gratton scored 13 points, while Klei added 11 off the bench.
"[Maggert's] going to attract all kinds of attention from the opponents' defense," Packard said. "Tonight, like I told our team, it's a matter of faith — if they really key on Emily, then we've got to find some production in a different area of our own rotation [...] Those are things, Danielle I think picked up some productivity as did Shannon, to kind of ease maybe what they subtracted from Emily."
Maggert now gets three days to become more comfortable with her mask, should she need to use it, until Ball State travels to take on MAC West Division-leading University of Toledo on Saturday.
In order for the Cardinals to have their best chance to sweep the season series against the Rockets, they know they need the best possible play out of their MAC Player of the Year candidate in Maggert.
"She'll be fine," Gratton said. "She'll have it on all through practice and she'll bounce back. It's just a frustration that she'll work through."
Read More
Turning the Tides: How Ryleigh Skaggs is changing Wes-Del girls' basketball
By Logan Connor / 7 hours agoHead coach Ryleigh Skaggs is looking to turn the narrative on Wes-Del girls’ basketball
Cardinals survive five-set marathon against Central Michigan, advance to MAC Championship Final
By Daniel Kehn / 18 hours agoBall State advances to the MAC Championship with a five-set marathon victory over Central Michigan
Ball State women’s basketball falls to No. 16 UNC in the Battle 4 Atlantis
By Elijah Poe / 19 hours ago“I'm really glad that I was able to come back in time to play because we're not going to get this moment back,” senior Madelyn Bischoff said about the 63-52 loss to No. 16 North Carolina. “Even though we didn't win, I do think that this is really going to help us in the long run.”
