Missing its top two scorers from last season, the Ball State women's basketball team was plagued offensively as it opened the 2011-12 regular season Friday evening at home against the Illinois State Redbirds, falling 63-52.
In the first half, the Cardinals made up for their offensive struggles by drawing 10 fouls on the Redbirds and going 8-of-12 from the foul line.
Early in the game, Ball State fell into a quick deficit, but was able to hang along, even taking the lead for a few minutes. The turnovers continued to chase after the Cardinals and they fell behind again just before halftime.
The flow of the game turned at the 5:00 mark in the first half with Ball State up 24-22. Illinois State's Candace Sykes hit a three-pointer to retake the lead for her team. The Cardinals then fouled and gave up a jumper to the Redbirds. What was a two-point lead quickly became a three-point hole for Ball State. The deficit only grew from there.
Ball State entered the break losing, 39-30.
However, the offense wasn't the main problem for Ball State according to coach Kelly Packard.
"I think if there's one thing that stood out to me it was defensively that we gave up middle penetration because our defense is so really fundamentally structured by forcing baseline," Packard said. "When we give up middle penetration, then we're in awkward rotation, awkward recovery and late recovery. That was something that was apparent for us all night long."
Starting freshman guard Brittany Carter echoed Packard's concerns.
"Defensively it was rough, letting them go middle. I'm not as quick as most of the girls out there," Carter said.
Carter started her Ball State career off well by hitting on her first three-pointer of the game to put the Cardinals on the board.
She finished the game with a team-high 12 points.
"[Carter] is awfully poised for a freshman," Packard said. "She's just going to improve and get better and better. I like the way she's leading."
The Cardinals seemed slow offensively throughout the game, almost getting a shot clock violation on multiple occasions.
In the second half, Ball State fell behind by even more to Illinois State, losing by as much as 12 points at one point. With such a large deficit, it was too difficult for the offensively-challenged Cardinals to recover and come back.
5-foot-9 guard/forward Mercedes Miller grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, seven of them coming on the offensive end.
The next time Ball State takes the court will be at Wright State on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m.
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