by The Ball State women’s basketball hosted the UIC Flames as an undefeated team through five games.
Last week, Ball State took down Cincinnati at home with a score of 83-63. UIC is coming into this game with a 2-3 record and off a double-digit win over Loyola-Chicago.
Ball State is facing a former assistant coach for the Cardinals. Ashleen Bracey was an assistant for Ball State coach Brady Sallee in the early 2010s. In her first three seasons coaching the Flames, UIC has won 52 games.
Controlling the ballgame
Ball State struggled to take control of this game the way they have handled others. They came into this game with a 5-0 record, but couldn’t find consistency against UIC. The Cards found good looks but couldn’t convert.
Ball State primarily plays in a full-court press, and it normally gives a lot of teams problems. Although, UIC was not one of those teams. The Flames found ways to break the press and score through a strong and quick Ball State defense.
A big part of this game that made it so difficult for Ball State was turnovers. Ball State recorded more turnovers than UIC with 16 compared to the Flames’ 11 giveaways.
Ball State’s defense showed up when it mattered, though. They forced a shot-clock violation in a pivotal point in the game that couldn’t have given UIC momentum to make a run.
Injured Cardinal
Cardinals guard Bree Salenbien was inactive this game. Salenbien came into this game as the leading scorer for Ball State with 15.6 points per game.
Even without Salenbien. Ball State has plenty of scoring options. Going into this game, Karsyn Norman averaged 14.4, Grace Kingery averaged 13, and Tessa Towers averaged 11.4, but Salenbien’s absence was noticed.
Ball State, after beating Cincinnati by 20, went into the half tied 30-30 with UIC.
For a long time, Ball State struggled to control the ball. They’re a team that averages around 21 turnovers per game, and though the first half, they had 11 of them.
In this game, Ball State would end up with 16 turnovers and 37 total rebounds as a team. Tessa Towers had 11 of those rebounds on her own.
The offense definitely didn’t look the same without Salenbien in this game.
Ball State was tested
The Cardinals had trouble controlling this game, but Tessa Towers made some important shots in her 19-point performance. Towers had seven points and three rebounds in a big fourth quarter that would put Ball State back to making this matchup a last-second-type of game.
Ball State had some very comfortable wins this year, but this one held no comfort for the Cardinals. UIC never went away and stayed composed against a very talented Ball State team.
UIC went to a 1-3-1 zone in the second half and forced some turnovers to stay in the game.
Ball State never broke away from UIC. Free throws were a killer against the Cardinals. Ball State shot 10 of 20 from the stripe, and shooting 50% as a team from the free throw line can keep a team from winning.
Ball State was outscored in the fourth quarter 22-15. The Cardinals couldn’t get enough of their shots to fall in the final quarter. The Cards shot 35% as a team from the field in that quarter and had five turnovers.
Ball State couldn’t escape UIC in Muncie in a 66-64 loss. Later this week, UIC will meet with Maine next while Ball State looks to face Pittsburgh in the Florida Gulf Classic on Friday, Nov. 28th.
