Ball State women’s basketball lost its home contest Sunday afternoon against South Dakota State (SDSU) 63-55.
The Cardinals and Jackrabbits are ranked in the top 10 of Collegeinsider’s top 25 Mid-Major teams, which showed on the hardwood today.
SDSU is one of the toughest teams the Cardinals have played so far, coming into the game with two ranked wins and a four-point loss to ranked Duke. The Jackrabbits play tough basketball and are one of the favorites to win their fifth straight Summit League crown.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
Improved paint play against a taller lineup.
One of the only positives to come out of the loss was the continued improvement of Ball State’s play in the paint. The SDSU lineup is one of the biggest Ball State has seen this season. Something a bit concerning heading into the game, as Ball State has historically struggled against taller, more physical opponents.
Ball State out-rebounded SDSU 25-9 in the first half. On the offensive side, Ball State tallied up 12 offensive boards compared to the one SDSU had.
Those rebounds came up big for the Cardinals in their 14-to-5 run to take a 33-27 lead into the halftime break.
Ball State outscored South Dakota State 26-to-14 inside the paint. An improved number for the Cardinals this season. The dominant play from senior Marie Kiefer was an integral part of the offense of Ball State. Kiefer had 19 points on 8-for-12 from the field and 2-for-4 from the charity stripe. She also had eight boards, and five steals in 38 minutes.
Graduate student Maliyah “MJ” Johnson also played well against the Jackrabbits with seven points off the bench. Johnson struggled early but has found her footing as of late. She was 2-for-3 from the field and a solid 3-for-5 from the free throw line. She also had four rebounds and two assists.
A tale of two halves.
Although Ball State led the contest in points in the paint, not much else went right for the Cardinals. A half-time score of 33-27 was a result of tough basketball played by both sides.
Ball State was 12-for-27 from the field in the first half, and SDSU was 8-for-21. The bulk of the Jackrabbits' points came from the free throw line, where they were 6-for-8. Ball State controlled the second quarter after trailing by two after the first ten minutes. The run saw the Cardinals outscore SDSU 15-to-7 and take the energy into half-time.
But, for the second straight contest, Ball State fell apart in the second half. Against Columbia, the Cardinals were outscored 25-to-14 in the third quarter and 16-to-3 against SDSU. The third quarter was the Achille’s heel against SDSU.
Outsourcing the Jackrabbits in the second quarter, 15-to-7 stole every bit of momentum away from the SDSU sideline. But with the Jackrabbit onslaught of the third quarter, Worthen Arena was silent outside of the basketball being dribbled and shoes squeaking. Four of the 13 turnovers came in the third quarter and Ball State was only 1-for-13 for the entire 10 minutes.
Bench continues to struggle to produce.
Outside of the five starters, Johnson was the only bench scorer. Freshmen Zuri Ransom and Grace Kingery played but neither scored. Ransom had one rebound on 0-for-2 from the field in five minutes, Kingery was 0-for-1 and a turnover in just three minutes. Junior Sydney Bolden played four minutes and had one steal with no other numbers put up on her stat line.
The continued lack of support off the bench has been a problem for the Cardinals. In the game against Columbia, Johnson was the only substitute to score. Albeit only two points in 13 minutes, outside of her, no one else contributed.
The loss against the University of North Carolina was not much better if you take away the 19 points from senior Madelyn Bischoff, who is a typical starter. Only seven points came off the bench against the Tar Heels. Even in the win over Texas A&M, only 12 points came off the bench. Johnson was again the leading scorer off the bench with seven and Ransom had five.
Even in the four consecutive wins to open the season, the bench production was not great. The worst was a 10-point contribution against Northern Iowa. As conference play heats up, Sallee will need more production from his reserves if the Cardinals want to make noise on the national level.
Ball State’s next game comes Dec. 5 against Davidson at 11 a.m. on Field Trip Day in Worthen Arena.
Contact Logan Connor via email at logan.connor@bsu.edu or via X @_loganconnor
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