When the final buzzer sounded in the loss at Kansas State last Thursday, it stopped being about “this season“ for the Ball State women’s basketball team.
It is now about next season.
After the loss, coach Brady Sallee admitted thinking about the 2013-14 season is difficult.
“It’s hard to even get to that point now,” he said.
Ball State’s starting five will all return for the 2013-14 season.
“This core group that returns, they did it,” Sallee said. “They’ve been there. They’ve done it. They’ve played at a high level. This experience is going to help tremendously in terms of where we’re going.”
Point guard Brandy Woody and forward Katie Murphy will be seniors next season, while guards Shelbie Justice and Brittany Carter will be juniors.
Woody’s play took a step forward in her junior season.
She was second on the team in scoring with 10.9 points per game. After a .75 assist-to-turnover ratio in her first two seasons, Woody’s decision-making improved in her third. She posted a 1.26 assist-to-turnover ratio in the 2012-13 season.
The highlight of Woody’s season was unquestionably Jan. 23 at Buffalo.
She scored a career-high 29 points, recorded 11 rebounds and grabbed seven steals, all in 40 minutes of play. She also went 4-of-8 from 3-point range and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line against the Bulls.
The only 2013-14 returning underclassman that was a starter this season will be forward Nathalie Fontaine.
Sallee has said repeatedly that Fontaine, the Sweden native, will need to spend a lot of time in the weight room bulking up during the summer for next season, saying she “needs to pay rent in the weight room.” However, her short-term future is up in the air.
“They’re begging us right now to make sure she gets home for the summer to play on their under-20s,” Sallee said. “Of course I’m a little bit biased; I think she can get better if she plays here all summer. We’re in a tug-of-war.”
The most obvious challenge Fontaine has faced this season in her transition from playing basketball in Sweden to playing for Ball State is traveling. Fontaine committed 112 turnovers throughout the season, the most on the team.
“Now the question is: How do we go about melding the six freshmen with these returning kids to get our team chemistry back to where we’re playing championship basketball?” Sallee said.
The most highly-touted of the six incoming recruits is Winchester High School’s Jill Morrison.
Morrison was named the 2011-12 Muncie Star Press Athlete of the Year, and she led the state of Indiana in scoring in her junior season with 27.1 points per game. She followed that up with a successful senior campaign, scoring 27.6 points per game.
“Clearly the bar has been raised quickly,” Sallee said. “The culture has changed quickly. We’ll have time to start thinking about the future, there’s no doubt that we’re excited about it.”
