Ball State University Athletics
WBB Hosts Central Michigan In MAC Midweek Matchup
February 17, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Ball State vs. Central Michigan
Worthen Arena (Capacity 11,500)
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 at 7 p.m. (EST)
Muncie, Ind.
• Twitter @ballstatesports, @bsucoachbrady, @BallStateWBB
• Radio Fox Sports 102.9 FM/1340 AM Jay Garrison
• Radio WCRD 91.3 --Tyler Bradfield and Peter Hoffman
• Internet www.ballstatesports.com
• Television Ball State Sports Network
Joel Godett and Amber Stocks-Whitford
- Senior Shelbie Justice became the 24th player in program history to score 1,000 career points while helping Ball State take sole possession of the Mid-American Conference West Division, with the Cardinals' 77-52 win over Bowling Green Saturday afternoon in Worthen Arena. Justice tied her career-high with a 21-point performance against the Falcons. The Cardinals didn't encounter any problems against Bowling Green as three other players joined Justice by scoring in double figures. Nathalie Fontaine had 13, Jill Morrison 11 and Renee Bennett 10. Fontaine also had eight rebounds, and Calyn Hosea led with four assists. Ball State, with an overall record of 13-10, will host MAC West Division rival Central Michigan Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Worthen Arena.
- Fontaine earned her fourth Mid-American Conference West Divison Player of the Week honor of the season after averaging 16.0 points and 11.5 rebounds last week. With Fontaine's help the Cardinals improved to 9-3 in league action after posting wins over Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green. Fontaine led the Cardinals in scoring against the Eagles Wednesday night in the Convocation Center with a 19-point performance. Fontaine also tied her career-high in rebounding against the Eagles by pulling down 15 boards. On Saturday, the Cardinals hosted Bowling Green, which resulted in a 77-52 victory for Ball State. Fontaine scored 13 points in the win and she now has 1,370 points for her career and ranks eighth all-time in scoring for the Cardinals. She has now scored in double figures in 21 of Ball State's 23 games this season, and has scored in double digits 77 times in 89 total career games.
- Central Michigan enters Wednesday's contest with an 11-12 overall record and a 6-6 league mark. The Chippewas recently fell to Eastern Michigan on the road Saturday by a score of 85-64 in the Convocation Center. The Chippewas have posted league wins over Kent State (83-62), Buffalo (66-58), Northern Illinois (56-53), Miami (60-54), Kent State (65-63) and Bowling Green (57-54). Central Michigan has suffered losses to Ohio (71-51), Akron (72-74), Ohio (74-66), Western Michigan (69-64), Toledo (61-46) and Eastern Michigan (85-64). The Chippewas are looking for their first win in three games. Central Michigan owns a 3-6 road record this season, which includes a 3-3 mark in MAC play.
- Wednesday's game against Central Michigan will mark the 70th time the teams have met, with Central Michigan leading the all-time series 35-34. In 2013-14, Ball State dropped both its meetings to Central Michigan in overtime. Prior to that, Ball State was the only Mid-American Conference school to have beaten reigning 2013 MAC Champion Central Michigan not once but twice. The Cardinals defeated the Chippewas at home 68-61 Feb. 7 and then again in Mt. Pleasant 67-63, Feb. 28.
Quick Hitters
• Head Coach Brady Sallee knows his divsion, as he owns an 18-7 mark against Mid-American Conference West Divison opponents. He is undefeated against Western Michigan (5-0) and has suffered only one loss to Northern Illinois (5-1) and Eastern Michigan (4-1). Sallee is 2-2 over Central Michigan and 2-3 versus Toledo.
• After scoring in double figures in 21 of Ball State's 23 games so far this season, junior forward Nathalie Fontaine has now scored in double digits 77 times out of 89 total games in her career.
• Nathalie Fontaine has 598 rebounds for her career. She is now in 15th place all-time passing former women's basketball player Alana Hancock (1993-97). Fontaine needs 18 to reach 616 rebounds to move her up to 14th all-time in front of former Cardinal Brandy Woody (2010-14).
• Junior Nathalie Fontaine earned her sixth double-double of the season after scoring 19 points and pulling down a career-high 15 rebounds at Eastern Michigan (Feb. 11). Fontaine now has 15 double-doubles in her career.
• Brady Sallee guided the Cardinals to a 4-0 Mid-American Conference start for the first time since 2008-09 when Ball State went 4-0 under former head coach Kelly Packard before losing to Buffalo, Jan. 17. The best start to the league play for Ball State was in 2000-01 when the Cardinals went 8-0 under the direction of former coach Brenda Oldfield-Freese who is currently the head coach at Maryland. Former coach Tracy Roller went 5-0 (2002-03) and 7-0 (2006-07). Lisa McDonald also led the Cardinals to a 3-0 start in 2007-08.
• Brady Sallee is in his third season at Ball State. He became only the second coach in program history to take the Cardinals to back-to-back WNITs. The last time it happened was 2001-02 and 2002-03 under former head coach Tracy Roller.
• Sallee led the Cardinals to an 18-17 overall record in 2013-14, with the 18 wins being the most in a season since the 2008-09 squad went 26-9. Sallee owns a 183-152 career head coaching record, including a 136-109 mark in eight seasons at Eastern Illinois.
• Sallee is now 2-1 in MAC openers for Ball State. He guided the Cardinals to a 62-59 victory over Miami in 2012-13 while suffering an 87-78 loss to Akron last season. Sallee led Ball State to a 62-50 victory Jan. 3 at Bowling Green.
• This is the 41st season in Ball State women's basketball history. The Cardinals are 476-604 (.440) and 242-311 (.437) in the Mid-American Conference.
• Lone senior Shelbie Justice reached the 1,000 point plateau against Bowling Green (2/14), she currently has 1,001 points for her career. She scored 22 points in the Ball State Federal Credit Union Thanksgiving Classic, had 12 points at Butler, 14 points at Saint Louis During MAC play she chipped in 15 points in a win over Miami along with an 18-point performance against Western Michigan. She recently scored 17-points in a win at Toledo and tied her career-high with a 21-point performance versus Bowling Green.
• Ball State has been more efficient from the floor than its opponents. The Cardinals field goal percentage for 23 games is .427 while Ball State's opponents are being held to .370. Ball State vs. Purdue (43.8-to-34.0), Ball State vs. Evansville (49.0-to-36.4), Ball State vs. No. 12 Louisville (56.3-to-38.8), Ball State vs. Murray State (47.8-to-32.3), Ball State vs. Duquesne (31.9-to-53.6), Ball State vs. Oakland (50.0-to-27.5), Ball State vs. Butler (27.1-to-29.8), Ball State vs. Charlotte (49.0-to-41.4), Ball State vs. Pitt (37.5-to-35.0), Ball State vs. Western Kentucky (36.7-to-57.4), Ball State vs. Saint Louis (33.9-to-40.3), Ball State vs. Bowling Green (45.8-to-32.7), Ball State vs. Miami (47.5-to-41.7), Ball State vs. Western Michigan (38.8-to-26.8), Ball State vs. Kent State (54.4-to-33.9), Ball State vs. Buffalo (22.6-to-24.2), Ball State vs. Akron (48.3-to-44.1), Ball State vs. Ohio (31.3-to-43.1), Ball State vs. Miami (44.4-to-35.3), Ball State vs. Northern Illinois (46.9-to-48.0), Ball State vs. Toledo (37.3-to-31.8), Ball State vs. Eastern Michigan (47.4-to-39.3) and Ball State vs. Bowling Green (46.9-to-28.6).
Let The Countdown Begin: With only six Mid-American Conference games remaining the Ball State women's basketball team currently sits in first in the MAC West Division and is the second seed overall if the MAC Tournament were to start today. Ohio has taken over the top spot with an 11-1 league ledger while Western Michigan is in third with a MAC record of 9-4. The top four seeds get a bye to the 2015 MAC Tournament in Cleveland Ohio at Quicken Loans Arena. Under the direction of Brady Sallee the Cardinals are 4-2 in tournament play advancing to the semifinals in 2012-13 and the championship game in 2013-14.
2013-14 Team In the Single Season Record Books: Last season Ball State finished the season third in points scored in a single season (2,379) . . . fourth in 3-point field goals made with 13 vs. Ohio (1/18/14) . . . third in 3-point field goal percentage .722 vs. Ohio (1/18/14) . . . fifth in free throw attempts with 42 vs. Western Kentucky (12/6/13) . . . second in points scored by both teams (4,721) . . . first in rebounding (1,278) . . . fifth in steals (1,207) . . . fifth in assists (468) . . . second in 3-point field goals made (251) . . . second in 3-point field goal attempts (715) and fourth in free throw attempts (632).
2013-14 Individual Single Season Record Books: Sophomore guard Jill Morrison finished sixth in 3-point field goals made vs. Western Kentucky (12/6/13) after making six three point baskets . . . junior Nathalie Fontaine finished second in scoring with 574 points . . . fourth in field goals made (205) . . . third in field goal attempts (418) . . . senior Shelbie Justice finished seventh in 3-point field goals made (69) and Morrison was eighth with 62 . . . Morrison also ranks eighth in 3-point field goal attempts (177) and Justice was 10th with 164 . . . Fontaine, Justice, Morrison and sophomore Calyn Hosea are tied for first in games played with 35.
Justice Is Served: Shelbie Justice has played in 120 games for her career while starting in 113 of them. Justice has 1,001 points for her career, after a 21-point performance against Bowling Green (2/14), in which she became the 24th member of the 1,000 point club. She opened the season with a 14-point performance against Purdue (11/14) and then had 12 points in a win over Evansville (11/17) and a loss at Butler (12/13). Justice has scored in double digits for the Cardinals a total of 43 times. She also holds the record for most three-pointers made by an individual in the Mid-American Conference Tournament with 15.
Winchester Wonder: Jill Morrison has started all 23 games this season. She scored 12 points off of 4-of-8 shooting in the Cardinals season opener Friday, Nov. 14 against Purdue and then tallied her first double-double after scoring 17 points and pulling down 11 rebounds against Evansville (11/18). Morrison led the team in scoring for the second-straight season against nationally ranked Louisville with a 20-point performance at the KFC Yum! Center, Nov. 23. She led the team in scoring with 15 points at Saint Louis (12/30) and Miami with 18 points (1/28). Morrison earned her first Mid-American Conference Player of the Week honor for the week of Nov. 24. Morrison hit the 500 point plateau at Eastern Michigan with a 10-point performance, she now has 516 points for her career.
Taking Tall Orders: Sophomore Renee Bennett, a 6-5 center who is the tallest player in program history, scored a personal-best 14 points last year against Tennessee Tech (Nov. 30) at the South Point Shootout in Las Vegas, Nev., and at IPFW Dec. 29. She has tied her career-high again with 14-point performances at Bowling Green (Jan. 3) and at home versus Northern Illinois (Jan. 31). She brought down a season best eight rebounds at Wyoming, Dec. 14, and at home against Akron, Feb. 15. She led the Cardinals in scoring and rebounding with 23 points and 13 rebounds in Ball State's 116-29 exhibiton victory over Oakland City (Nov. 4). Bennett chipped in 12 points in a win over Evansville (Nov. 18) and recently scored a career-best 15-points in a win at Eastern Michigan (Feb. 11).
Moriah Monaco Not Playing Like A Freshman: Freshman guard Moriah Monaco started her first game for Ball State in a 75-50 win over Oakland Saturday, Dec. 6 in Worthen Arena. Although a freshman, Monaco convincingly made herself look like a true starter, as she scored 13 points off of 5-of-8 shooting from the field while knocking down 3-of-5 three pointers for the contest. The true freshman only turned the ball over once for the entire 26 minutes she played. Monaco scored a season-best 19 points at home versus Kent State off of 8-of-10 shooting, Jan. 14.
Winning In the Paint: The Cardinals have won 10-out-of-11 games when scoring more points in the paint than their opponent. Ball State vs. Evansville (26-to-20), Ball State vs. Murray State (34-to-12), Ball State vs. Oakland (34-to-20), Ball State vs. Charlotte (33-to-22), Ball State vs. Pitt (26-to-22), Ball State vs. Bowling Green (36-to-20), Ball State vs. Miami (44-to-20), Ball State vs. Western Michigan (32-to-20), Ball State vs. Kent State (30-to-28), Ball State vs. Eastern Michigan (40-to-18) and Ball State vs. Bowling Green (20-to-8).
D-D-DEFENSE: The Ball State defense has forced 221 turnovers in 12 Mid-American Conference games for an average of 18.4 per game. Ball State forced just 165 turnovers in its 11 non-conference games for an average of 15.0 per game. The Cardinals are also taking better care of the rock, turning it over just 14.4 times per game in league play, compaired to 17.9 in non-conference action.
Merder She Wrote: Sophomore Shelby Merder scored a career-high 14 points in the Cardinals' win at Akron (1/21) after shooting 5-of-6 from the field, while going 2-for-3 from behind the arc. Merder is averaging 4.1 points per contest and 2.2 rebounds.
