The Ball State women’s basketball team is not new to winning streaks.
The 2022-23 Cardinals went on a 10-game win streak, the 2023-24 squad had a 14-game win streak and the 2024-25 Ball State women’s basketball team is on a 13-game win streak.
Ball State (19-4) notched win number 13 in a row against Bowling Green (11-11, 5-6 MAC) with a 71-51 win and set a new program record for the best start to the Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular season (11-0).
As the Cardinals break another program record, head coach Brady Sallee wishes he could have enjoyed them more with the class of 2025.
“In the heat of the game or the heat of practice, whatever, sometimes that gets away from you,” Sallee said. “It's the run that this group has been on [and] the elevation of what they've done with this program, I'm just appreciative of having a seat on the plane, to be honest with you.”
Even if the Cardinals are on a roll, Sallee said the win streak is not in mind because the Cardinals are constantly trying to win them all. Instead of counting wins, Sallee counts the games in which Ball State plays to its standard of basketball.
“We've had a couple of wins this year where none of us liked the way we played,” Sallee said. “So you learn lessons, you try to find a way to get better. That's one thing these guys are doing right now.”
Sallee pointed out an example where the Cardinals watched over an hour of film after the Western Michigan game. Ball State won the game by ten points, but the Cardinals were not satisfied.
Sallee said the Cardinals are in the “dog days” of the season, with just a few MAC games on the schedule and the tournament being around a month away. He said players have to show up to practice tired and beat up but continue to play to the standard. Where some teams might overreact, Sallee said the Cardinals just get things done in the dog days.
“I think we're slowly but surely continually becoming better versions of ourselves,” Sallee said. “That's the challenge this time of year, is the teams that can find ways to get better are going to be the teams that keep winning, the teams that plateau are going to be the ones that maybe get upset.”
Bischoff said it can be hard to endure the dog days of the season, but she knows that whenever things get mentally or physically challenging, a whole village of teammates is there to support her.
“[It’s] honestly just looking at the bigger picture,” Bischoff said. “We have to get through this [because] there's something bigger than just feeling tired.”
Bischoff finished with 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting from three. Seniors Ally Becki and Alex Richard had 17 points apiece, and both of them tallied a double-double. Becki had 10 assists, and Richard had 11 rebounds.
The Cardinals will travel to face James Madison University Saturday in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge. Sallee said most coaches in the league complain about the challenge, but he is not one of them. He said the merger was set up for the Cardinals' current situation.
Ball State and James Madison both rank within the top 60 of the NCAA women’s basketball net rankings. This means the winner can come out with a quad one or quad two win. Quad wins significantly improve your shot of making the NCAA Tournament due to rankings.
“It's a huge opportunity in February to get a big-time win and say to the committee, we're the real deal,” Sallee said. “And they are thinking the same way.
“...This is gonna be a huge opportunity if we take care of our business.”
Contact Elijah Poe via email at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on X @ElijahPoe4.
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