Ally Becki is a lot of things. A champion, an MVP, a student, a basketball player, a Ball State legend.
Her legacy spans 137 games, a Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament Championship, an appearance in the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, countless awards and countless records.
Ball State women’s basketball head coach Brady Sallee said it was genuinely exciting to see Becki progress on the court over four years. He said Becki transformed from a pass-first player into the face of the program, who is a “winner at a different level” from the competition.
“I think the beauty of how she ended it, being the player of the year and winning championships, was that she did not win it because she scored the most points,” Sallee said. “She won it because she is a winner.”
But a collegiate career spanning 137 games has to start with the first one. The point guard was not heavily recruited out of high school, and Becki said Ball State was always the school for her with Sallee at the helm.
Throughout the recruiting process at Ball State, Dave Becki, Ally’s father, said associate head coach Audrey McDonald-Spencer and Sallee were alongside Ally in every way possible.
“They supported her along the way and gave her opportunities to excel,” Dave said.
The first opportunity was an exhibition game in her freshman season. She came into the locker room to see her name on the whiteboard. She was in the starting lineup.
“I was like, ‘What?’ My hands started sweating,” Becki said. “I was shooting airballs in the warmup, but it was a turning point in my collegiate career, even though it had just started.”
Becki has been a starter for Ball State ever since, starting in every game she’s played.
“I don't even know what Brady saw me when I was a freshman, but he put me in the starting lineup,” Becki said. “Whatever his reasons were for starting me just opened my eyes that he trusted me from the beginning.”
After the first summer of being in the program, Sallee said he knew it was not going to be long until she “took the keys to the Corvette.” He chuckled and said he would be shocked if Becki was not expecting the start.
In 2022, 2023, and 2024, Ball State fell short of winning the MAC Tournament. Becki and the Cardinals played in the championship in 2022 and were bounced in the second round in 2023 and 2024. But in failure, Becki said she grew.
Through the seasons of coming up short, the college athletics world was changing around her. Athletes could now transfer in the portal and get paid with name, image and likeness (NIL). Regardless of the athletic world evolving around her, leaving Ball State was not an option for her.
“It was a thought for a second, but I knew I wanted to win,” Becki said. “If I had gone to a small Power Four school and played well, I would not have won anything … I wanted to win something, and I knew I could do it here. That is way more meaningful to me than having an extra 1,000 bucks in my pocket.”
In 2025, her loyalty paid off with a MAC Tournament Championship. The Cardinals finally reached the goal they had for four long years.
As the confetti rained down in Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ally went over to her father and embraced him with a hug.
“That moment, I’ll cherish forever. It was a long hug,” Dave said.
Becki was named Tournament MVP and topped long MAC rival Toledo en route to cutting down the nets.
The win in the MAC Tournament meant that for the first time since 2009, Ball State was heading to the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Becki said she would find herself going back on social media and scrolling through the memories of the 2025 season. She took “a week or so” after the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament to reflect and rest, but sure enough, she was back in the gym after the break.
Becki said seeing support within the Muncie community is rewarding to her since Ball State is a mid-major program. She said there have been occasions when someone would come up and talk to her about the Cardinals, or just want to meet her. She said those moments never get old.
“I’ll be walking our dog and I hear people say ‘Congrats on the season,’” Becki said. “It’s just cool to see the impact we’ve made by just playing basketball.”
The Muncie community is also one that has grown in support of Ball State women’s basketball. From Becki’s freshman to senior season, the program had a 144 percent growth in attendance in Worthen Arena from 1,058 her freshman season to 2,587 her senior year.
Becki said she will forever remember the crowd support from the Muncie community and the iconic moments inside Worthen Arena. From hosting ranked Notre Dame, or nationally televised MAC games, to some of her moments. Like the one where she found Marie Kiefer on a behind-the-back pass that landed on SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays.
“I’m just super grateful to put on a jersey and call Ball State my home,” Becki said.
Dave said it was rewarding to see Ally grow as a basketball player, but more importantly, as a person at Ball State.
“To see the joy that she has with people she interacts with, that is what makes it all so rewarding to see,” Dave said.
Sallee said Becki came into Ball State as a great kid but exits the university as a grown woman ready to take on the world ahead of her.
Up in the rafters.
Sallee said he is not sure his opinion will go into hanging up Becki’s number 0 in the rafters of Worthen Arena, but he wants to speak it into existence.
The head coach has said multiple times during the 2024-25 season that Becki should be up with Ray McCullough and Bonzi Wells.
He said one of the things he immediately noticed 13 years ago when he was hired was that two men's jerseys were hanging and no women's. He said there has not been a huge history in the program except the 2009 run and the history they are building currently, but there are still Ball State greats.
“She did not just have a great career, she carried a program,” Sallee said. “You hang it up there because she is a winner and made us a winner … Every fan of Ball State would be proud to walk into the arena and see her name up there alongside two special players. Her name belongs in that group.”
Dave could only shake his head at the thought of his daughter's jersey hanging in Worthen Arena.
“To see the impact she had, and not fully realizing it to that extent, I am beyond proud,” Dave said. “If that does happen, to see it go up, I can’t wait to see her reaction. To see her react to that moment, that is going to mean the world to me.”
Basketball in her future.
The senior is now in the process of figuring out her future. Becki said she is hopeful to be invited to WNBA training camps to get the experience and show her worth.
Becki said Sallee, McDonald-Spencer and her father, Dave, have had their hand in helping her decide on which agent to choose for her career.
Dave said there is some uncertainty in this process, but it is going smoothly, with questions being answered as the process advances.
Sallee is alongside Becki in the process of finding agents, but is in the background of the process to aid her when asked.
“It is important for her to find the right fit with an agent because it is an important part of being a great pro,” Sallee said. “She understands how important it is. Once it happens, it is just a matter of where she is going to end up, not if.”
Contact Elijah Poe via email at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on X @ElijahPoe4.
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