by MUNCIE, Ind.- The Ball State Cardinals hosted the UMass Minutewomen on Wednesday, Jan. 21. The Cardinals beat the Minutewomen by a score of 76-60 in a game that had much more of a story than the final score.
Ball State came into this game on top of the Mid American Conference with an unbeaten 6-0 league record. Their last contest ended in a win against Western Michigan on Jan. 17.
UMass came into this game one game back from the Cardinals with a 5-1 MAC record after their 79-67 win against Buffalo.
Ball State stated the game having to play against a 2-3 zone played by UMass. The Minutewomen tried to force Ball State to beat them from outside. The zone was tested early by Ball State winning the rebound battle in the first quarter and two three-point makes by Karsyn Norman.
Ball State and UMass went back and fourth in the first quarter showing why they are both top three teams in the Mid American. The first quarter ended with a 25-21 score in favor of UMass.
Ball State went into the half down by six with a 39-33 UMass lead. The Cards shot 37% from the field in the first half with their leading scorer being Bree Salenbien with 10 points. Another big number in the first half was Tessa Towers pulling down eight rebounds leading to Ball State’s lead in the rebounding category.
Ball State coach Brady Sallee talked about the adjustments needed for the game.
“It was a really good win against a really good opponent,” said Sallee. “They make the game so hard with all the stuff they do defensively. I though our kids did a really good job of just keeping their cool and listening to how we had to make some changes and adjustments.”
In the second half, Ball State flipped the switch. They went on an 10-0 run over 3:41 to take a 49-44 lead in the third quarter. The Cards also forced a 10-second violation to keep the pressure on the Minutewomen.
Grace Kingery found her touch from outside by drilling three straight three-point baskets to force a UMass timeout. The Cardinals won the quarter third quarter 24-8 to take a 57-47 lead into the final quarter.
Coach Sallee talked about what happened in the locker room at halftime to spark their run in the third.
“We went in like it always is,” said Coach Sallee. “We had a few offensive things that we talked about. I didn’t’t think we were running offense. They took something we haven’t done, and went out and executed it at a high level.”
The Cards started to feel more comfortable breaking away from UMass around the two-minute mark in the fourth quarter. With 2:06 left to play, Ball State led UMass 72-54. To that point in the game, UMass went without a field foal for the last 4 minutes and 57 seconds proving Ball State’s ability to close out games.
Ball State’s key players from this matchup included Grace Kingery, Bree Salenbien and Aniss Tagayi. Kingery and Salenbien both finished with 14 points each, and Aniss Tagayi finished with 11 points and a defensive clinic.
Alba Caballero also was a big contributor recording her first double-double of the season. Caballero scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win over the Minutewomen.
Ball State played their biggest test of conference play and got the job done at home. The Cardinals improved to 15-4 on the year, and they stay perfect in MAC play with a 7-0 record. Ball State holds their place at the top of the Mid American as they look forward to meeting with Miami (OH) at Worthen Arena on Saturday, Jan. 24.
