Ball State University
1-1
Western Kentucky
0-1
Fontaine Scores 30 Points In WBB's Win Over WKU
November 20, 2015 | Women's Basketball
By Doug Zaleski
Ballstatesports.com
Former New York Jets wide receiver-turned-ESPN NFL analyst Keyshawn Johnson once wrote a book.
Ball State women's basketball senior forward Nathalie Fontaine grew up in Stockholm, Sweden. Understandably, she's never heard of Johnson, who retired after the 2006 season. But she took a page out of the football player's book Thursday night to lead the Cardinals to a victory in their home opener.
Fontaine tied her career high by scoring 30 points and led an impressive assault at the free-throw line to help the Cardinals defeat Western Kentucky 74-60 in Worthen Arena.
The effort was a direct result of a desire to work harder to get open in the second half.
“Coach told me to get into the post a little bit,” Fontaine said. “In the first half, I was more out on the perimeter. … Just getting into the post and closer to the rim got me to the free-throw line.
“I want the ball all the time. I think I just played harder in the second half.”
Cardinals coach Brady Sallee was in complete agreement with his star player, who also had 12 rebounds for her 19th career double-double.
Fontaine scored 24 of her points and grabbed eight rebounds after halftime. She was 12-for-12 at the free-throw line, all of them coming in the second half.
Sallee said Fontaine wanted the ball in the opening half, but didn't do anything to get in position to do damage. He said she “turned into the dribble show.” That resulted in just six points in the first two quarters.
Sallee pushed Fontaine to get into the team's system in the second half.
“Get some screens, play from the inside out, screen yourself,” Sallee said. “Now all of a sudden she's more active and getting the ball on the perimeter with people closing out. Now she can drive it by them.
“Now nobody's (at the rim) waiting on her to take a charge. … When she plays that way, she's just an impossible player to guard.”
Fontaine helped expand Ball State's 43-42 lead after three quarters with a 31-18 scoring advantage in the final 10 minutes. She scored 12 points in the period, including eight at the free-throw line.
Ball State scored points on 11 consecutive possessions from the 7:53 mark to 2:13 in the final period.
“In the second half we really dug down deep,” said Cardinals junior guard Jill Morrison, who had 15 points and was 6-for-6 at the line with six rebounds and four assists. “We just dug down, and some things went our way. Rebounding was one of them.”
Western Kentucky (0-1), an NCAA Tournament team that won 30 games last year, showed its strength in the first half with 17 rebounds, eight of which were on offense.
Ball State (1-1) turned the tables by outrebounding the Hilltoppers 27-19 in the second half.
“That's a big-time win for us against a team that's going to win a ton of games this year,” Sallee said. “The way we played in the fourth quarter was pretty impressive. If we can finish games out like that we're going to be all right.
“But if we don't build on it and get better from here, this win doesn't mean anything.”
Moriah Monaco added some punch with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Ball State wants to be able to build depth and play a deeper rotation off the bench than last year. That process is still clearly in development.
The Cardinals had almost as many turnovers (5) as points and rebounds combined (6) from its bench players.
Among the five backups who played a total of 42 minutes, Shelby Merder had the only points (3) and two of the three rebounds.
But better play on defense in the second half and the strong free-throw shooting pulled the Cardinals through.
For the game, they were 22-of-24 at the line, including 17-of-18 in the fourth quarter.
“We've shot free throws pretty well all preseason,” Sallee said. “Clearly (Fontaine) had the confidence to go to the line and shoot them confidently.
“That should be a strength of ours. I think tough teams make free throws. The jury is out on whether we're a tough team quite yet, but today was a good start.”
