Ball State women’s basketball traveled to James Madison for a top-50 NET ranking matchup. The game was the second installation for the Cardinals and Dukes in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) vs Sun Belt Conference challenge, and James Madison came away with a 78-74 win.
The Cardinals knew coming into the contest it would be a challenge. The Dukes are undefeated and sit atop the Sun Belt at 21-4. James Madison has not been a team to commit many turnovers, and Ball State knew the game would be tight.
“It was razor-thin margin for error,” head coach Brady Sallee said. “It comes down to a few plays here and there. I thought our inability to turn them over, they handled that really well.”
The first ten minutes of the game were all James Madison. The Dukes led 23-14 after the opening period, and Ball State had only knocked down four buckets. James Madison controlled both sides of the floor, and that began in the paint.
“They blitzed us early, Sallee said. “I just think they came out and they were the way tougher team. They were winning the blocks on both ends offensively and defensively. It was just a microcosm of the toughness battle, and they were winning it in that moment.”
That toughness battle swayed towards the Ball State bench in the second quarter, as the Cardinals won it 24-21. Although the efforts were stronger, James Madison still held a six-point lead at the break.
A big part of the second quarter, and the entire game, success was senior Alex Richard. Since her return, Richard has been a force in the paint for the Cardinals. She scored 10 points in the second quarter and came down with four rebounds.
Richard’s production did not end there, she finished with 22 points and nine rebounds. She controlled the glass for the Cardinals and was hitting mid-range jumpers and had a handful of tough rim finishes.
“She's been such an impact for us,” Sallee said. “In those moments where we need a big rebound or we need a big play, she makes them. And we certainly need all of them tonight.”
Ball State battled and used productive second and third quarters to keep themselves in the game. The game came down to who would be tougher, and the Dukes just happened to fight on a few more plays.
“We had battled to give ourselves a chance there at halftime,” Sallee said. “So we knew, everything was in front of us with what we had to do. We talked about just the toughness side of what we had to flip and how we had to do it. I thought the kids did a good job doing that. We just battled, battled, battled and took the lead. And then at that point, they make a play and we don't, and the game's over.”
Ball State had a chance to take the game and bring a win back to Muncie after leading with under two minutes to play. With 36 seconds left on the clock, James Madison took a one-point lead and Ball State was unable to create offense.
The final two possessions were not ideal for the Cardinals. One, a dribble drive where senior Ally Becki lost the handle, and a second where senior Madelyn Bischoff was unable to connect on a deep three-ball. Becki threw up a last-ditch effort three on one possession and the Cardinals were unable to connect there.
“We turned one of them over, we came off the handoff and turned one of them over,” Sallee said. “Then, I thought we had a brief window on a little flare screen we're trying to run for [Bischoff] and they did a good job of making the pass hard to get to her. Those are two plays that we've had in works, and we practiced them.”
Although they were not able to connect, Sallee felt confident in his players to run those plays in the final minute of the game. In the biggest moments of the game, he had full trust in his team.
“I thought we were in a good position to do what we wanted to do,” he said. “And, yeah, sometimes you execute those at a high level, and everybody thinks, ‘man, that was awesome.’ And sometimes, everybody thinks ‘Man has the worst play I've ever seen.’ We ran what we wanted to and did what we were supposed to do. They just kind of won that singular battle in those plays.”
Although this loss does not sit well, there are still seven MAC games on the schedule before the MAC Tournament in Cleveland. The Cardinals get a whole week off before their next game at Eastern Michigan Feb. 15.
“the good thing is, we've got some days here to rest and recover a little bit,” Sallee said. “Get our bodies feeling about as good as they can this time in February and then it just turns into the same prep and play that you've been going through league with. So that's kind of the good thing with this. You step out of that pressure cooker of the league and just that two-day prep, play, two-day prep, play.”
Coming away with a loss is never the game plan, but taking lessons and a hard-fought game in a good environment can sometimes be a bigger learning moment than a win.
“You go play in a great environment like we just played in, play in a high-level game like we just played in, and then you get a chance to kind of take a deep breath and get yourself right for the stretch run here,” Sallee said. “I told the team, there's only one of us in our league that got to do what we got to do today at the level we got to do it. And so the lessons we'll take from that are going to be incredible.”
“I think it reminded us what we've done playing at the level we did against the people we played against. When you're playing against top 50 teams in the country, man, it's different. Now, you can't dwell on the stage. You got to play forward. And those are the things that if we can take them into our league, it puts us in a really good position.”
Ball State hits the road again Feb. 15 to get back into MACtion against Eastern Michigan Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.
Contact Logan Connor via email at logan.connor@bsu.edu or via X @_loganconnor.
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