Down by just one point to Northern Iowa in the second round of the WNIT with 30 seconds left, Ball State’s Nathalie Fontaine had a look at the basket near the free-throw line. The play before, she drained a jumper from the same spot.
Northern Iowa brought two defenders to double team the freshman.
Because of the double team, Brittany Carter was wide open for an easy jumper near the right baseline. Fontaine saw her and dumped it off to Carter.
Carter rose up and drained the game-winner. Ball State took the win, 53-49.
“[Got to] let it fly at that point,” Carter said of the shot. “Wide open. Great pass from Nat, just finished it.”
Ball State coach Brady Sallee offered more insight on the last offensive play of the game for Ball State.
“The play we ran, we put it in yesterday,” Sallee said. “We called it against a defense we saw on film. We executed it to perfection. We always preach that we make one extra pass for a great shot. Nathalie made it, Brittany hit it.”
Katie Murphy started Ball State off with a layup off Woody’s entry pass.
Northern Iowa then jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first half, but Ball State’s offense eventually caught up to its defense.
Carter hit a 3-pointer six in-game minutes after Murphy’s layup.
At the 12:14 mark of the second half, Murphy fell down on defense and came up limping. Ball State gave up a quick layup because of it.
Sallee called a timeout and Murphy limped back to the locker room. However, she returned to the game a few minutes later.
Murphy missed one game in December because of an ankle injury.
After Carter’s go-ahead bucket late in the game, Kalin missed a 3-pointer to tie. Carter and Fontaine hit free throws to seal the game for Ball State.
With the win, Ball State advances to the Sweet 16 of the WNIT, the first time any women’s basketball team from Ball State has done so.
Ball State doesn’t know yet who, when or where it will play next. It will face the winner of Monday’s game between Kansas State and Illinois State.
“You can’t put it into words, you just have to make sure you’re enjoying the ride,” Sallee said. “We don’t know where this is going to take us. I’m just so excited to keep going to work with these kids every day.”
