Consecutive losses left the Ball State women’s basketball team with its back against the wall, forcing it to change its own momentum.
“We didn’t want a repeat performance of what we had the other night [against Buffalo],” head coach Brady Sallee said. “[The team] came in here and did something about it.”
Ball State trailed Western Michigan by 8 points with 14 minutes to go in Wednesday’s game. Again, with its back against the wall, the team relied on senior point guard Brandy Woody to provide an answer.
She scored 5 points in about five minutes to narrow the Broncos’ lead to just 2 points. Her late spark led to Ball State claim a 56-43 victory over Western Michigan.
Sallee said the team willed its way out of the two-game losing streak. None showed more will to win than Woody.
“To watch [Woody] play the way she did … I had a blast watching her play,” he said.
Western Michigan’s 25 personal fouls on the night played a key component in Woody being able to score late. She was set on taking advantage of the Broncos’ soft defense.
Ball State doubled Western Michigan’s points in the paint 28-14 in a physical, grinding game. Woody led the team with six field goals and eight free throws.
Of her mindset late in the game, Woody said she needed to “just keep attacking.”
With three minutes to go she completed an and-1 play that Sallee said was one of the “dagger” plays in a game that had been close all the way through.
Running on transition, Woody attempted a layup where she finished through contact. The field goal gave Ball State an 8-point lead.
Tenacious plays like that set the stage for Ball State’s 30-9 run to end the game.
Senior forward Katie Murphy went to the line for a pair of free throw attempts with nine minutes left in the game. She sunk the first, narrowing the Broncos’ lead at the time to one.
She missed the second, but made up for it with an offensive rebound and kick out to junior guard Brittany Carter. After Carter sunk an open three-pointer, one of only three in the game for the
Cardinals, Ball State had recaptured the lead it wouldn’t lose again.
A stretch of games plagued by inconsistency from three-point range had resonated in the minds of Ball State’s key shooters. Sallee said the momentum-shifting three-pointer was as big for Carter as it was the team.
“She needed it,” he said. “She and [Jill Morrison] are way more concerned with the way they’re shooting it than me. I want them to keep attacking. I’m focused way more on the execution.”
The team executed its game plan to contain Western Michigan post player Miracle Woods. The sophomore put up more than 30 points and 10 rebounds in each of her last two games.
Sallee said he didn’t expect to hold Woods to just three attempts for 4 points in the game. But the post defense, too, was executed like it needed to be.
The win improved Ball State’s home record to 3-4 on the season. Tough losses like the one to Buffalo on Sunday had left a bitter taste in the team’s mouth.
“To come out and win a grind-it-out type of game at home is something special,” Sallee said. “We’ve got some big home games coming up, and we’ve got to take care of the home floor if we’re going to have any thought of going to [Mid-American Conference championships].”
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