by Ball State women’s basketball went down to Memphis Saturday, Nov. 15. The Cards went to take on the Tigers and cruised to a 83-59 win.
The Cardinals got off to a hot start in the first quarter. They jumped out to a 28-13 lead at the end of the first. They dominated the glass with a 15-9 lead in the rebound battle.
In the first half, the Cardinals dominated the game. They lead 44-22 to that point and had 24 points in the paint compared to Memphis’ 10 points in the middle. Ball State led the rebound battle handily, as well. They led 34-18 in total rebounds going into the half.
Grace Kingery went into the half leading the Cardinals with 16 points, and Tessa Towers led the way on the boards with 5 up to that point in the game.
Coach Brady Sallee talked about staying disciplined at the half with a big lead.
“We wanted to win the paint,” said Brady Sallee. “We had to have some gap integrity with what we were doing, stay disciplined, and do what we were supposed to do. I thought our kids followed that to a T.”
The Cardinals went through the third quarter with ease. They won that period 24-10 by only shooting 38% as a team that quarter. Ball State proved that they could still find ways to score.
Ball State defense force the Tigers to take some difficult shots. Memphis couldn’t get much going. For a majority of the game, they were held to shooting under 30% from the field. Ball State was forcing difficult shots throughout this matchup.
Ball State’s offensive ability was on display. They shot at a lower clip compared to past games this season but still found a way to put 83 points on the board against the Tigers. The Cardinals shot 41% from the field. They had no shortage of shooting. Ball State took 71 field goal attempts in this game converting on 29 of those shots.
Ball State also ended up shooting 38% from three-point range converting 10 of their 26 shots from outside.
The Ball State defense got 10 steals, forced 18 turnovers, and forced the Tigers to shoot 31% as a team from the field.
Grace Kingery led the way for Ball State with 22 points on 50% shooting, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. Kingery made six of her seven total field goals from around the three-point line. Before this game, she was fifth on the team in scoring. Coach Sallee talked about his team’s scoring flexibility.
“I think through the course of the year, we’re going to have eight or nine kids be our leading scorer. I think we have that kind of talent; we trust them,” Coach Sallee said after the game.
To add to Kingery’s performance, Tessa Towers recorded a double-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds, a block, and a steal as a big contribution to Ball State’s big win. Of those 10 rebounds, five of them were brought down offensively.
The Cardinals pulled down a total of 62 rebounds against Memphis after averaging 43 rebounds a game before they played the Tigers. Ball State also went over their average for the season with assists. They dished 22 assists when averaging 17 a game before this game.
Ball State will appear next on Thursday, Nov. 20, at home against the Cincinnati Bearcats for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off. Ball State improves to 4-0 while Memphis falls to an even record at 2-2.
