by MUNCIE, Ind. — Brady Sallee walked into the media room Saturday afternoon for his post-game press conference with a sticker on his chest.
It was No. 35: senior Bree Salenbien’s digits.
“You go back to the end of last year, and you’re losing what you’re losing. You can’t bring in some schlepp, right?” Sallee said. “We were lucky. I think [associate head coach] Audrey [Spencer] did a great job of identifying and finding the right people. But man, we just hit the lottery with this one.”
Salenbien said earlier in the season that she joined Ball State women’s basketball for an opportunity to improve her game.
Before Ball State defeated Mid-American Conference (MAC) foe Ohio 86-85, the team held its Senior Day, and the forward walked to center court inside Worthen Arena to be honored. After a video dedicated to her lone season with the Cardinals was played, she was met with a standing ovation from the Ball State faithful.
“We’ve grown so much over this year, and I’m so thankful that I got to be a part of it,” Salenbien said. ”I’m thankful to the coaches for giving me an opportunity. It’s not every day you go pick a kid up who doesn’t have the greatest stats that I had coming out of [Gonzaga].
“I’m thankful, and I’m grateful to be here. I think we built something really special in a short amount of time.”
But she was not the only one to be honored. The team’s content creator, senior Caroline Scheu, was also recognized. Sallee said combining the program with her talents was the ‘perfect storm’.
“The Good Lord works in crazy ways, right? … I get other coaches who are like, ‘How are you all doing all this? I feel like I know your team.’ That’s a cool thing,” he said. “She’s just poured herself into this. How we found her, it is just crazy that it all came together when it did. I think it’s just the beauty of what’s happened in this program, and she’s been a big part of telling that story.”
After the ceremony, Ohio (15-12, 9-7 MAC) started the game with a 4-2 advantage, the Cardinals quickly found their stride as they jumped to a 19-12 lead and owned a 19-15 advantage after the first 10 minutes.
But Ohio did not give in. The Bobcats lead the MAC with 10 made 3-pointers per game. Today, they attempted 47 3-pointers, and 15 of those found the bottom of the net. Overall, the visiting team took 76 shots. The Cardinals attempted 27 triples and had 66 overall looks.
“Could we have gone out there and kept them from shooting 47 threes?” Brady asked. “Maybe, but they would have shot 46. Okay, what’s the difference? So we just had to roll with it, and hope that they didn’t make 45% of it … I knew what this game was going to look like. It’s like walking in a haunted house, and you know I’m going to go around this corner and I’m gonna get the hell scared out of me. But you still got to go around the corner because they won’t let you go backwards.
“There were so many corners that we went around and got the hell scared out of us, but we just kept going.”
At halftime, Ball State (24-6, 15-2 MAC) only led 38-37. This came as the Cardinals had 24 rebounds to Ohio’s 20. Sallee said the team has been ‘banged up’ due to illness for the last week, and due to that, their preparation was limited.
“When we came in at halftime, and we were only leading by three or four on the boards, I was like, ‘Oh, Nellie, this could be bad,’” Sallee said.
However, he reminded the Cardinals at the midgame break that they needed to do better on the boards. In fact, he said he ‘challenged’ them to do so in the second half.
Following his assigned test, Ball State aced it.
The Cardinals ended the game with 52 rebounds while the Bobcats grabbed 35. Though Ohio made it a two-point game or less — including the final score — six times, Ball State’s performance off the glass was too strong.
“Look what we did in the second half on the boards, and I think it was really the difference in the game,” Sallee said. “When they missed, we got them all. That changed things.”
In the win, sophomore guard Grace Kingery also played a role as she hit seven triples and scored a career-high 24 points.
“It makes it easy when you have threats like Bree and obviously Tessa on the floor,” Kingery said. “Just being able to pretty much step into the shots made it really easy.”
Behind her was senior center Tessa Towers with 19 points, while Salenbien finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 assists — a career-high — while also recording eight rebounds. Freshman forward Alba Caballero also had a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“I’d rather have ones where we win by 40, but if we’re gonna do it, why not have fun doing it? It might be the end of the February calendar, but it’s March, and it’s the end of the regular season,” Sallee said. “We got a chance to win this regular season [title] if we just take care of business. It’ll be hard to get the one seed, but we’ve got a lot we’re playing for right now, and that’s fun.
“We can take care of ourselves, but we can’t control what Miami (OH) does. But maybe some of my good friends [who are] out there coaching those other teams can help me out this year. I’ve sent them all liter bottles of ‘daddy juice’ to just wish them the best of luck.”
The Cardinals will have an entire week off until they travel to Toledo Saturday, March 7, for their final regular-season game. It will begin at 2 p.m.
After that contest, the focus goes to Cleveland, Ohio, and the MAC Tournament. But Ball State’s emphasis is not on just being there.
The No. 2 Cardinals aim to win the event.
“For any basketball coach, this time of year, this is it, man. This is what it’s all about,” Sallee said. “I’m thankful that I’m sitting here again, and I got a team that we feel we can go up there and win the thing. That’s pretty awesome to feel like that. I’ve coached some teams where you hope you go up and you get a chance.
“But in my last few years, I’ve known that we’re as good as anybody going up there, and I think we feel that way again this year.”
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary.carter@bsu.edu, zachcarter039@gmail.com or via X @ZachCarter85.
