by MUNCIE, Ind. — A return to the win column was the goal for Ball State women’s basketball Wednesday evening.
After falling to Miami (OH) for its second Mid-American Conference (MAC) loss of the season, Ball State hosted Akron for a chance at redemption. Following 40 minutes of basketball, that goal was completed as the Cardinals ran past the Zips 88-55.
“We took care of business,” head coach Brady Sallee said. “I thought our ball movement was really good .. We wanted to make sure that we came in and took charge, and we certainly did.”
But that was not the only storyline for the Cardinals. It was a big night for freshman forward Aniss Tagayi.
She started and took the court as usual. However, the Montpellier, France native played in a Ball State jersey with her parents in attendance for the first time. She dropped a season and career-high 18 points, and recored the first double-double of her collegiate career with 11 rebounds.
“It’s great. I’m happy they didn’t fly here for nothing,” she said. “I’m happy that it was their first Ball State University game, so it’s great. Hopefully they enjoyed it.”
Sallee said moments like that are what it is all about, and that this team holds things like that close to their hearts.
“We want to enjoy the heck out of playing with everybody and [enjoy] the whole thing. It’s the beauty of college sports,” he said. “I know we’ve lost that in society a little bit with all the baloney, but this team hasn’t lost sight of it.”
Despite the final 33-point victory, the contest did not begin that way. At the 3:57 mark of the opening quarter, the game was tied 10-10. Sallee said the contest started like a boxing match where sometimes you ‘want to fall asleep’ in the first few minutes until someone starts throwing ‘haymakers.’
But that all changed in the second quarter as the those knockout punches arrived.
Thanks to a 25-14 quarter, Ball State (23-6, 14-2 MAC) jumped to a 42-26 lead at halftime. Though the Cardinals excelled in the second period, Sallee’s antics on the sidelines never changed throughout the first half. In multiple cases, he was vocal with the officials about multiple possessions.
After the game, he said he was just checking in on the crew.
“I just hadn’t seen them in so long,” Sallee said. “I was just catching up and asking them about family and telling them about some of my hobbies. Some different things like that.”
The second half continued to be an offensive clinic for the Cardinals, as they finished the game with a 41.9 percent (31-for-74) shooting percentage and 22 assists.
Ball State averages 43.7 rebounds per game, and against the Zips (7-21, 4-11 MAC), the Cardinals had 55.
“We’ve established ourselves as a really good defensive rebounding team. I think it’s what we do, and it’s part of our identity,” Sallee said. “We’ve got real size and real length, so we feel good about that part of it. When we can go get our misses back and still shoot in the 40 percent [range] … it tells you that you got a team that’s locked in. It was one of our goals [tonight], and we absolutely killed it.”
Senior center Tessa Towers led the way with a game-high 19 points. Behind her was Tagayi’s 18, while sophomore guard Grace Kingery and freshman guard Zhen Verburgt followed with 11 apiece.
The Cardinals have two regular-season contests left, and they will next return to Worthen Arena Saturday, Feb. 28, as Ohio (15-19, 9-5 MAC) comes to Muncie.
Despite being locked in for the MAC Tournament, Ball State is taking it as if every game could be its last. Sallee said this mindset can help them adjust to different opponents. But he also made sure to point out that focusing on the day-by-day tasks keeps the game of basketball fun.
“If you make it about stuff that just isn’t important, I think it takes the joy out of what we get to do every day with each other. It just becomes bigger than it needs to be,” Sallee said. “I want them to enjoy each other and have fun with each other … We get to play with [senior] Bree [Salenbien] for about three more weeks.
“Being around as long as I have, you don’t always get teams that really enjoy each other the way they do. The other part of it is that they play for a guy who’s funnier than any coach out there. So, they’re lucky that way, too. That’s just something they couldn’t control.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
