Ball State women’s basketball led 23-20 after the first half of play.
Just a few nights ago, the Cardinals scored 53 in a half. Now, shots were not falling. Head coach Brady Sallee said the message at halftime was, “Go be different.”
“Go impose your will, go be dominant, and I thought 20 [Richard] was different,” Sallee said.
Senior Alex Richard sparked a dominant run out of the half for Ball State (18-4, 10-0 MAC) that ended in a 61-51 win over Western Michigan (8-12, 5-5 MAC).
Richard was a ball hawk in the third quarter. Going for rebounds, getting fouled, making free throws and changing the tide.
“Alex going out there and going balls to the wall getting rebounds changed the whole momentum of the game,” senior Ally Becki said.
Richard only scored four points in the first half, and she said it was hard to play when the Cardinals are flat. So, after the break, she took matters into her own hands.
“I just focused on doing the things that I can control, like going and getting every single board,” Richard said. “...I knew I was going to go out there and try to get every single one. They were beating us at half on the boards, and that shouldn’t happen.”
Richard said she takes rebounds personally, referring to a play in the first half where a Bronco pulled down two offensive rebounds right after the other.
The senior ended up with 23 points, 19 in the second half, on 8-for-13 shooting with seven made free throws and nine rebounds.
Richard said graduate student Elise Stuck's injury has made it difficult for the remaining post players to pick up more weight since Stuck was one of the Cardinals' best rebounders. Sallee said the Cardinals are still counting in weeks, not days, for graduate student Elise Stuck to return, but are confident she will return.
Ball State had the upper hand in the free throw battle, and the Cardinals shot 22 free throws compared to the Broncos six. Ball State was able to “out-attempt,” as Sallee said, Western Michigan, scoring 14 more points from the line. If the Cardinals took half the attempts, the Broncos could have made things a lot closer in the end.
This is the Cardinals' second-closest MAC win, and Sallee said the team can learn a lot from the closer contest.
“We haven't been in many of these in league [play],” Sallee said. “[I] don't know that we expected it in our locker room, but nonetheless, we stepped up to a plate when we had to and got a good win.”
Sallee said he coaches with immense trust in the Cardinals, so even if Ball State is struggling, he still trusts his veteran-led team to pull it through. The trust stems from a defensive effort, which Sallee said has been one of the largest stories of the 2024-25 squad.
The Cardinals might’ve had a tough time shooting the ball against the Broncos, but Sallee said their defensive effort changed the game. Ball State forced Western Michigan to turn the ball over 20 times.
“It came down to our ability to turn them over, plain and simple,” Sallee said.
Becki said the Cardinals know how offense can stem from defense, and she said that play style can create many transition options.
“It feels good to go out there and run the ball up and down the court,” Becki said. “Our best offense is in transition.”
The Cardinals are now on a 12-game win streak and will next face Bowling Green (11-10, 5-5 MAC) Feb. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in Worthen Arena.
Contact Elijah Poe via email at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on X @ElijahPoe4.
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