In the second game of the season Sunday, coach Kelly Packard watched her freshmen grow up during a 64-63 win against Wright State.
"The fast-forward button was hit on the growth chart for Brandy Woody, for Jazmin Hitchens," Packard said.
In the final 26 seconds with the Cardinals holding a one-point lead, Woody and senior Ty'Ronda Benning both missed front ends of one-and-ones. After a missed layup off an offensive rebound by senior Suzanne Grossnickle, Wright State's Ta-myra Davis lost control of a rebound as the buzzer sounded.
"We needed to settle down and go back to what was working for us," senior Emily Maggert said. "The 3 wasn't working for us, so we had to slow down and get the ball inside. The guards did great today getting us the ball inside and allowed us to be successful."
Maggert led all players with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Her 14 rebounds moved her past former Cardinals star Porchia Green for sixth place in career rebounds.
Packard said the reason for having Woody on the floor in the final minutes of the game was because she is the next point guard at Ball State.
"She's going to be our point guard in the future," Packard said. "I don't want to wait until next year and ease her in. I need Woody to be a confident point guard the opening night of conference play."
The biggest deficit the Cardinals faced was 11 points at the 5:04 mark of the first half.
"I thought we looked very chaotic. That all comes with youth playing substantial minutes," Packard said. "I just remind myself that we have talent here individually and we have to figure out how quickly we become a unit."
In the remaining five minutes of the first half, the Cardinals used a 14-3 scoring run to even the score at 31 at halftime. Ball State continued its run after the break to take a 38-31 lead.
Then the Raiders' Courtney Boyd took over, scoring 11 of her team's next 15 points including three 3-pointers to give Wright State a six-point lead.
"We knew she had a quick release, but she was bigger than I expected her to be," Packard said. "We were late to contest and when you do that to her, it's going to be too late."
Grossnickle, who was energetic after most of her made baskets, scored a career-high 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
"It felt amazing," Grossnickle said. "I haven't felt like this since high school, so it's been a while."
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