Ball State women’s basketball defeated Mid-American Conference (MAC) rival Toledo (12-5, 4-3 MAC) 77-63 in a nationally televised game.
The Cardinals remain undefeated (7-0) in MAC play with the win and are now 15-4 overall.
Here are three takeaways from the Ball State win.
Abysmal start to an amazing first-quarter finish.
The Cardinals started the day by going 1-for-10 from the field, an atrocious ten percent. This poor stretch lasted about five and a half minutes. When it was over, Ball State was down 11-2 at the timeout.
Whatever head coach Brady Sallee said in the timeout, it worked.
The Cardinals came out on fire. Ball State hit four out of its next five shots to go up 13-11 on an 11-0 run. Senior Marie Kiefer cashed in a 3-pointer for the lead and freshman Grace Kingery sealed the first quarter off with a pair of triples herself.
Ball State ended the quarter by outscoring Toledo 16-3 for an 18-14 lead after the first frame. The Cardinals went 4-for-6 from the 3-point line, making up a large majority of points in a short amount of time.
Although it looked like the Cardinals were dead after the rough start, Ball State was able to catch fire to make it very competitive after ten minutes.
The defense wins games.
Toledo only turns the ball over 15 times a game on average, but Ball State forced the Rockets to cough it up 11 times in the first half alone. The Cardinals also put up 13 points off those 11 turnovers in the first half.
The Cardinals' man-to-man defense often forced Toledo to take a shot as the shot clock was expiring because the Ball State defense was so aggressive.
Although rebounding has not been a strong suit for Ball State to start the MAC season, the Cardinals outrebounded the Rockets 21-18. Three rebounds might not be why Ball State won, but it created five points off second-chance points in the first half. Take away those five points and the Cardinals head into the locker room with a two-possession lead, not multiple.
Ball State won the rebounding battle 34-31 with leading rebounder graduate student Elise Stuck being out with an injury.
The tight defense translated to the second half as well and the Cardinals forced 20 turnovers by the time the final buzzer rang out. Ball State scored 19 points off of those turnovers and had six blocks.
Lachelle Austin hits 1,000 points.
Senior Lachelle Austin knocked in her 1,000th collegiate point against Toledo, and the senior was an impact player for the Cardinals beating the Rockets.
Austin is in her first season as a Cardinals after transferring to Ball State from Eastern Michigan last year. Needless to say, she has been influential in every aspect.
The senior had 18 points against the Rockets and her 3-pointer in the first quarter sparked the Ball State run that gave the Cardinals the lead.
Austin has been essential for Ball State by filling a void left by Nyla Hampton who transferred to Michigan State. Hampton’s defensive and scoring abilities were huge for Ball State last year, and Austin has filled in by excelling in the same two areas. Austin is averaging 10.8 points per game and 2.2 steals per game and has started every game for Ball State.
Contact Elijah Poe via email at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on X @ElijahPoe4.
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