Ever since she could dribble a basketball, Sweden native Nathalie Fontaine has dominated on the court.
In her home country, Fontaine played on several national teams that pitted her against some of the best players in Europe, sparking the interest of Ball State women’s basketball head coach Brady Sallee.
“When we first saw her play, she was just a very graceful athletic player, and [she] does some things unconventionally, and because of that it makes her hard to guard,” Sallee said. “She was a long athletic kid that had a knack for scoring the basketball.”
Sallee wanted Fontaine on his team and was willing to bring her from Sweden to Muncie to make that happen.
Fontaine jumped at the opportunity to play basketball in the States, but was initially cautious about which college to play for.
“I had some other schools to choose from, and, honestly, I didn’t think about Ball State being one of the schools that I wanted to go to,” Fontaine said. “But then I came here on visit and just meeting the coaches, I knew that those coaches were the ones that could make me into the best player that I could be.”
Fontaine has turned into an effective player for Ball State, scoring 997 points through her first two seasons.
She has scored 79 points through the five games this season, topping the 1,000-point career mark in the Cardinals’ first game against Purdue.
With the pace that Fontaine is currently on, she is set to challenge the spot for the No. 1 scorer in Ball State women’s basketball history.
“That’s one of my goals – to try and break that record,” she said. “But I also have a lot of other goals: just develop as a player, do the things that you don’t really see in the stat sheet. I think I need to get better at those things like hustle plays and defense in general.”
Whether or not Fontaine ends up being the leading scorer in school history, Sallee knows just how good she has been and can be.
“Where she ends up in the standings and all that bologna – I don’t care,” Sallee said. “But I know that she’ll go down as one of the best that’s ever come to play for us.”
Read More
Ball State football’s blowout loss to Ohio summarizes failed season
By Kyle Smedley / 20 hours agoAfter the Bobcats’ 42-21 routing, the Cardinals finished the season with their worst record since 2017.
Ball State football pushes through outside noise ahead of Black Friday game against Ohio
By Kyle Smedley / 2 days agoThe Cardinals are setback by injuries and early transfer portal entries heading into the final game of the season against the Bobcats.
