by MUNCIE, Ind. — Wednesday’s home debut for Ball State women’s basketball went well, according to head coach Brady Sallee.
“I thought they were gang busters,” Sallee said.
But his comment wasn’t the only indication of that. The scoreboard and stat book alone did that for the Cardinals as they topped Northern Kentucky 95-64 behind 49.3 percent shooting and 37 bench points.
After four quarters of basketball, 11 of the 12 Cardinals who saw minutes scored a bucket.
“We share the ball. My belief is when it’s played well, you don’t worry about who’s taking the shot,” Sallee said. “You worry about what kind of shots you get, and our job in recruiting is to find good enough players that can do that … I think a barometer for us is always assisting numbers. When those assist numbers are high, we’re pretty successful.”
The contest started with Ball State (3-0) leading 10-6 in the early minutes. However, it did not take the Cardinals long to build upon that, going up 28-10 at the 1:08 minute mark of the first quarter.
During the period, the Cardinals were 11-for-20 (55 percent) and 4-for-8 (50 percent) from 3-point range.
Throughout the rest of the game, those numbers continued to stay positive as the Cardinals never wavered. After an 18-0 scoring run that stretched from the end of the first and the start of the second quarter, the game was out of reach for the Norse.
Ball State never lost the lead once.
The reason behind that was due to many aspects. The good shooting numbers, the way every Cardinal found a way to score, and their effort on defense could all be credited for that. But they also won the rebounding game 41-38, forced 21 Northern Kentucky (0-3) turnovers and stole the ball 14 times.
“Anytime you can pick up three points. Whether it’s going to the O-boards or whether it’s free throws or points off turnovers, I think it’s the way you score 95 points,” Sallee said. “We work really hard at the press, and we practice every day … It definitely paid off today.”
Redshirt senior forward Bree Salenbien led the way with 20 points for the Cardinals. This comes after she was named the Mid-American Conference Player of the Week one day prior.
“I didn’t have to do anything, to be honest, because we had so many contributions today, so we’re just still playing in the system,” she said. “I said it earlier to someone else, but I’m given an opportunity to do what I can do here. All I have to do is go out there and capitalize on it.”
Behind her was junior guard Karsyn Norman with a career-high 20 points, and she also logged seven rebounds and five assists.
She said the program’s style allows her to be a player who finds success.
“I think I’ve always kind of been a pass-first point guard,” she said. “That’s something they are trying to change on me … I still take a lot of pride in making a good pass.”
The 3-0 start for Ball State has been made up of different types of wins. Tonight’s victory was a dominant outing, and the other two were nights where the Cardinals had to use every second to come out on top.
Sallee said that mindset has been huge for a team that features nine new players. But he said the group has found one thing that other solid Ball State teams have had: the ability to have good practices.
“They’re starting to figure out how to practice and when. When my teams are good-practice teams, we have really good years, and we’re starting to figure out how to practice,” Sallee said. “That’s the biggest growth right now.”
Yet, it wasn’t just Sallee who said he’s seen growth around the team. Norman also noted this, saying she believes this team can ‘go undefeated.’
Ball State will head back on the road as the Cardinals travel to face the University of Memphis (2-1) Saturday, Nov. 15, at 4 p.m.
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
