It was an afternoon of firsts for Ball State.
Junior Lyzz Smith and freshman Alex Southworth saw their first action of the season.
Nathalie Fontaine knocked down her first 3 pointer of the season, after missing her first seven.
For Ball State, it was the first time it blew a 19 point lead, and lost 58-53.
With just five minutes and eight seconds left in the first half, Ball State led 27-8.
Valparaiso ended the half on a 14-3 run, then controlled the second half.
With just more than eight minutes left in the second half, Valparaiso grabbed the lead at 44-42, and never looked back.
Most of the damage was done by Valparaiso’s Tabitha Gerardot, who had a career high in points and rebounds, with 28 and 17, respectively.
Gerardot willed her way into the paint in the second half, cutting toward the basket through Ball State’s defense.
When she missed, she often pulled down her own miss and put it back in, finishing with nine offensive rebounds, frustrating coach Brady Sallee.
“She played that much harder than we did,” Sallee said. “When you don’t have energy and don’t match that intensity, it’s a recipe for a big night.”
Those 17 rebounds capped off an afternoon where Ball State was outrebounded 47-27.
Valparaiso had 18 offensive rebounds, leading to a large discrepancy in second chance points.
Sallee wasn’t happy with his team’s rebounding effort, and said he needs to see more fight and physicality after a shot is missed, both on offense and defense.
“There’s a certain amount of heart, and a certain amount of passion that goes into being a good rebounding team,” he said. “We just have to get that fixed, and I think we will.”
Sallee was happy with what he saw out of Smith, who appeared in her first D-1 game.
“I know her nerves were pumping,” Sallee said. “She’ll get more comfortable defensively as she comes along, but having her size should help us rebound better down the road.”
He was also optimistic about Southworth, who stands at 6-foot-1 and could help the team rebound.
“You need somebody with that size to get in there and rebound, not stand out on the perimeter,” Sallee said. “She’s got to get her feet wet, and she’ll come along.”
In a game where Sallee says Ball State lacked energy and hustle, he said Brandy Woody was an example of what he’d like to see out of all his players each game.
Woody, the smallest player on Ball State at just 5-foot-4, pulled down six rebounds which were tied for most on the team.
“I thought Brandy played her tail off tonight,” Sallee said. “She was the one kid who really competed for us for 40 minutes.”
Woody averages just 1.3 rebounds per game less then Katie Murphy, Ball State’s leading rebounder.
“We’ve got to get everybody to do that night in and night out,” Sallee said. “We need everybody to play with that kind of heart every night.”
With the loss, Ball State falls to 4-10 on the season, and just 1-6 on the road, as it finished its non-conference schedule.
“It’s going to be a process,” Sallee said. “But I know what’s going to come out of it in the end.”
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