Ball State University Athletics
WBB Competes In MAC Tourney Semifinals Friday
March 11, 2015 | Women's Basketball
Mid-American Conference Tournament
Quicken Loans Arena (Capacity 20,562)
Friday, March 13 at 2:30 p.m.
Cleveland, Ohio
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- The No. 2 seeded Ball State women's basketball team earned an automatic bye as the second seed advancing straight to the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament Friday at 2:30 p.m. in Quicken Loans Arena. It marks the first time since 2008-09 the Cardinals have clinched the MAC West title outright. In 2012-13, head coach Brady Sallee's first season, the Cardinals tied for second in the MAC West with Central Michigan but won the tie breaker after defeating the Chippewas twice that season. Ball State enters the contest on a two-game win streak after closing the MAC regular season with wins over Central Michigan (85-69) and Toledo (71-55). The Cardinals will face either No. 7 Toledo, No. 6 Eastern Michigan or No. 3 Akron. Ball State owns a 2-0 ledger over the Rockets, went 1-1 against the Eagles and 1-0 against the Zips this season.
- Jill Morrison was named the Mid-American Conference West Division Player of the Week, marking the second time Morrison has earned the weekly honor this season. She scored 19 points 85-69 in a win at Central Michigan Wednesday. On Saturday, Morrison was the offensive catalyst in a 71-55 victory against Toledo, pouring in a game-high 20 points. For the week, Morrison averaged 19.5 points per game, 5.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists while shooting .632 from the field, .647 from behind the arc and went perfect from the charity stripe.
- This season marks the 25th appearance in the Mid-American Conference Tournament in program history. Ball State has advanced to Cleveland in 14 out of the past 16 seasons. The Cardinals are 20-23 all-time in MAC Tournament play and have advanced to the MAC Tournament finals on five occasions. Ball State defeated Bowling Green in 2009 in the MAC Tournament Championship game. This is the second time in current head coach Brady Sallee's tenure the Cardinals have punched their ticket straight to the MAC Tournament semifinals as the No. 2 seed. Prior to that, Ball State had not received a bye in the MAC Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena since 2009, when the Cardinals won the event as the No. 2 seed.
- Three members of the Ball State women's basketball team were honored Monday when the Mid-American Conference announced its annual post-season awards. For the second straight season, junior forward Nathalie Fontaine was named First Team All-MAC, while sophomore Jill Morrison was selected to Third Team All-MAC for the first time in her career and freshman forward Moriah Monaco earned a spot on the MAC All-Freshman Team. This marks the fourth time Ball State has placed at least three players on All-MAC squads in the same season, with the three other being 2008-09, 2007-08 and 1982-83.
Quick Hitters
• Head Coach Brady Sallee knows his division, as he owns an 22-9 mark against Mid-American Conference West Divison opponents. He has suffered only one loss to Western Michigan (5-1) and Northern Illinois (6-1). Sallee has fallen twice to Eastern Michigan (4-2) and Central Michigan (4-2). He owns a 3-3 record versus Toledo.
• Did you know the Cardinals are 12-5 in the last two seasons under the direction of head coach Brady Sallee for the month of March. Last season, the Cardinals defeated Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Toledo before heading into the MAC Tournament where they won four straight before suffering a loss to Akron in the championship game. Ball State went 3-3 in the month of March in 2012-13, which included two wins in the Women's National Invitation Tournament, advancing the Cardinals to the Final 16.
• After scoring in double figures in 27 of Ball State's 29 games so far this season, junior forward Nathalie Fontaine has now scored in double digits 83 times out of 95 total games in her career.
• Nathalie Fontaine has 641 rebounds for her career. She is now in 12th place all-time at Ball State passing former women's basketball player Char Thomsen (1995-98). Fontaine needs two to reach 643 rebounds to move her up to 11th all-time in front of former Cardinal Jaimie Lehotsky (1994-97).
• Junior Nathalie Fontaine earned her eighth double-double of the season after scoring 12 points and pulling 11 rebounds against Eastern Michigan (Feb. 26). Fontaine now has 17 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 188-154 career head coaching record, including a 136-109 mark in eight seasons at Eastern Illinois.
• This is the 41st season in Ball State women's basketball history. The Cardinals are 480-606 (.441) and 246-313 (.439) in the Mid-American Conference.
• Lone senior Shelbie Justice reached the 1,000 point plateau against Bowling Green (2/14). She currently has 1,052 points for her career. Justice had a career-high 22-point performance in a win over Central Michigan (Feb. 18). She scored 22 points in the Ball State Federal Credit Union Thanksgiving Classic, had 12 points at Butler and 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 had 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 29 games is .422 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), Ball State vs. Bowling Green (46.9-to-28.6), Ball State vs. Central Michigan (43.6-to-37.7), Ball State vs. Northern Illinois (44.7-to-37.0), Ball State vs. Eastern Michigan (23.6-to-34.5), Ball State vs. Western Michigan (3.26-to-37.5), Ball State vs. Central Michigan (52.9-to-38.7) and Ball State vs. Toledo (46.2-to-32.2).
2013-14 Team In the Ball State 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 Ball State 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.
Winchester Wonder: Jill Morrison has started all 29 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), Miami with 18 points (1/28) and Toledo with 20 points. Morrison earned her first Mid-American Conference Player of the Week honor for the week of Nov. 24 and her second one for the week of March 9. Morrison hit the 500 point plateau at Eastern Michigan with a 10-point performance. She now has 588 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 tied her career-high again with 14-point performances at Bowling Green (Jan. 3), at home versus Northern Illinois (Jan. 31) and at Northern Illinois (2/21). She brought down a season best eight rebounds at Wyoming, Dec. 14, and at home against Akron, Feb. 15. Bennett chipped in 12 points in a win over Evansville (Nov. 18) and recently surpassed her career-best with a 15-point showing 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 and had a 14-point performance at Central Michigan, March 4.
Winning In the Paint: The Cardinals have won 13-out-of-14 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), Ball State vs. Bowling Green (20-to-8), Ball State vs. Northern Illinois (30-to-8), Ball State vs. Central Michigan (30-to-28) and Ball State vs. Toledo (24-to-18).
D-D-DEFENSE: The Ball State defense has forced 307 turnovers in 18 Mid-American Conference games for an average of 17.0 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 15.0 times per game in league play, compared 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.
Stayin In The “Q”: The tradition of MAC Madness in downtown Cleveland during the month of March will remain on Northeast Ohio's sports calendar for years to come. The Mid-American Conference (MAC) and Quicken Loans Arena have agreed to a six-year contract extension to host the MAC Men's and Women's Basketball Conference Tournament at The Q through 2023. The current agreement runs through 2017.
