by Ball State women’s basketball went into Akron to play the Zips in their second contest in the Mid American Conference for a New Year’s Eve matchup.
Ball State entered this game with a 9-4 record off a win at home against the Eastern Michigan Eagles. The Cardinals also hold wins against two schools from power conferences. Those schools are Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
Akron came into this one with a 3-9 record without a MAC matchup prior to this one. Akron’s last game resulted in a 94-68 win against Le Moyne.
To start this game, Ball State fell behind at one point with Akron leading 12-8. Ball State then made a run of 17 straight points to just to a 25-12 lead. The Cardinals took a 25-14 lead into the second quarter.
Tessa Towers led the team to that double-digit early lead by scoring 10 points and four rebounds just in the first quarter.
Coach Brady Sallee spoke about the run and momentum shift his team took in the first quarter.
“We turned our defense into offense and got some easy ones that way,” Coach Sallee said. “We smelled the blood in the water a little bit and put the hammer down.”
The Cardinal’s defense reeked havoc on the Zips scoring chances. Ball State forced 11 turnovers in the first half while committing only four of their own. In the end, Ball State forced 16 total turnovers and committed only nine.
Ball State’s defense did a lot of intangible things throughout this game. The way they play defense is meant to apply pressure to their opponents to force turnovers and create transition opportunities.
Coach Sallee addressed his team’s defensive mindset.
“Early on in the season we were really analytical, and I’ve been trying to get them, in the last few days, to just play hard and trust their habits,” said Sallee. “If they just play hard, it will cover up some of the openings that other teams have taken advantage of.”
Tessa Towers nearly had a double-double at halftime. In the first two quarters, Towers scored 18 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in just the first half. Last game, Towers set a career high in points scoring 21 points.
Towers finished this game with with her sixth double-double of the season. After setting her career-high in scoring in her last game against Eastern Michigan, she broke that with another career-high in points. Towers scored 22 points, and 13 rebounds to boost the Cardinals into the big win on the road.
In this game, Sallee played 13 different Cardinals in the big win over the Zips and six players scoring double-digit points.
Other key players in this game were Bree Salenbien, Karsyn Norman, Grace Kingery, and Zhen Verburgt. Salenbien scored 14 points and Norman, Kingery, and Verburgt each scored 11 points of their own.
Akron slides to 3-10 on the year, and they drop their first game in conference play. Akron’s next meeting is at Ohio against the Bobcats.
Ball State won this game handily over the Zips with Akron by a 102-73 finish. Ball State earned their tenth win of the year as well as their second MAC win this season. The Cards’ next meeting is at Northern Illinois against the Huskies.
