Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
15-11, 11-4MAC
Eastern Michigan
15-11, 8-7MAC
WBB Suffers 56-41 MAC Loss At Home Against EMU
February 26, 2015 | Women's Basketball
By Doug Zaleski
BallStateSports.com
Something was amiss from the start Wednesday night for the Ball State women's basketball team.
The Cardinals couldn't shoot straight, they didn't take care of the ball, and they didn't play with vigor on defense.
That made for a predictable outcome as the Mid-American Conference West Division leaders fell 56-41 to Eastern Michigan at Worthen Arena. Ball State tied its season low for points against a team it beat 72-62 on the road two weeks earlier.
“We stunk, and you have to give Eastern Michigan credit for coming in here and really putting it on us,” Cardinals coach Brady Sallee said. “Sometimes there's games you can't get out of your own way. I'll tell you what, we were in our own way tonight.”
The game started slowly for the Cardinals (15-11, 11-4 MAC) as they failed to attack the 2-2-1 full-court press employed by the Eagles (15-11, 8-7 MAC).
Sallee said his team was on its heels against the press and looked “lethargic” once it set up on offense.
“We wanted to be in attack mode against their press,” he said. “We were throwing it over the top and jacked up a few shots, but there was no attack in anything we were doing. … The foot wasn't on the gas.
“We were in neutral and hoping the car would roll down the hill sometimes. That's no way to play this year of year.”
The timid approach on offense resulted in Ball State's second-worst shooting performance of the season.
The Cardinals, second in the MAC in field-goal percentage (.428) coming into the game, hit just 23.6 percent. Eastern Michigan has held four other opponents to under 30 percent this year.
“We aren't the second-best shooting percentage team in the league because we're jacking shots,” Sallee said. “It was no different than the effort we played with on defense, no different than us taking care of the ball, no different than our effort on the boards in the second half. It just all looked the same.”
Nathalie Fontaine made a modest 5-of-14 shots (.357) and the rest of the Cardinals combined to hit just 8-of-41 (.195).
Ball State came in with the third-best 3-point percentage (.329) in the MAC but made only 5-of-26 from the arc for 19.2 percent.
The Cardinals also turned the ball over 16 times.
“It looked like we had multiple players who didn't really want the ball,” Sallee said of the offensive woes. “We were kind of choking some passes and didn't move the ball with conviction.”
Fontaine posted her eighth double-double of the year with 12 points and 11 rebounds. She helped the Cardinals gather 41 rebounds (17 on offense), but they allowed Eastern Michigan to get 47 boards (19 on offense).
Renee Bennett tied her career high with three blocks.
The loss prevented the Cardinals from clinching a tie for the MAC West championship. They lead Western Michigan by two games (with three to play) going into a game on the Broncos' home court at 2 p.m. Saturday.
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