Ball State University
13-4, 5-1MAC
Eastern Michigan
12-5, 3-3MAC
WBB Improves To 9-0 At Home; Defeats EMU 76-54
January 21, 2016 | Women's Basketball
By Doug Zaleski
Ballstatesports.com
The mountain top seems to be within reach.
Senior forward Nathalie Fontaine continued her assault on the Ball State women's basketball scoring record Wednesday night. And after a sometimes quiet performance, only one name is listed in front of her.
Fontaine scored 27 points to lead the Cardinals to a 76-54 Mid-American Conference victory against Eastern Michigan in Worthen Arena. The triumph improved Ball State to 9-0 at home.
Fontaine entered the game tied with Kate Endress for second on the Cardinals' career scoring list. Her 27 points upped her total to 1,870. She trails only Tamara Bowie's total of 2,091.
Fontaine said the record was something she thought about at the beginning of the season, when she trailed by 585 points. Despite being asked often about her ascent toward the mark, the native of Stockholm, Sweden, is trying to approach the chase with blinders.
“The coaches just keep telling me to relax and focus on winning every game,” she said. “Right now, I just want a (championship) ring. That's my No. 1 priority.
“Honestly, I didn't know I was second right now. (The record) is always in the back of your mind, but I really have to focus on the games. When you think about it more, you don't play as good as when you just let it go and think about the game.”
She displayed that relative ease against the Eagles (12-5, 3-3 MAC West). Even when she scored 13 points in the third period, Fontaine quietly amassed 21 points on 8-for-9 shooting going into the final quarter.
“In the first half I was ready to kill her,” Sallee joked, “because I didn't think she was playing near her capability. I thought the big difference was how she competed when she got the ball.
“In the first half, she was just getting the ball and trying to make shots. Then she figured out, 'If I don't compete when I get the ball, they're going to take it from me.' ”
Fontaine finished by hitting 10-of-14 field goals and all seven of her free throws. She added eight rebounds and five assists.
Her 364 points this season leave her 221 behind Bowie's record, set from 2000-03. With a minimum of 13 games left this year, Fontaine needs to average just 17 points a game to break the mark. Her current average is 21.4, which is second in the MAC.
Fontaine gets her points while contending with physical defenses designed to slow her down, according to Sallee.
“She's getting used to never getting any (foul) calls,” he said. “She's getting used to getting the tar beat out of her. Short of standing on my head and spitting fire, I don't know what I can say, but it's a shame what she has to go through night in and night out.
“The type of kid she is, she's not going to get upset. She's going to keep playing and ratchet it up.”
Jill Morrison ratcheted up her play against Eastern Michigan. The junior scored 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the 3-point line.
The seven 3's were a career best and tied for the fourth-highest single-game total in school history. Cardinals assistant coach Audrey Spencer (McDonald) holds the record with nine.
“When the ball comes from the inside out, it makes it really easy to sit out there and make shots,” Morrison said. “Tonight I was feeling it a little extra. Good passes and a shooting pocket makes it real easy.”
Morrison's stat line also included a career-high seven assists and six rebounds.
Morrison was asked in the postgame press conference what was more gratifying: seven 3-pointers or seven assists? Sallee stared at Morrison before she answered, eager to hear her response.
“Probably the assists because I'm a 3-point shooter,” Morrison said. “I'm serious. I'm a 3-point shooter, and that's my job. With the assists and other people scoring off my passes, that just feels really good for me.”
Carmen Grande added nine points on 4-for-6 shooting for the Cardinals. Frannie Frazier grabbed a career-best nine rebounds off the bench to tie for the highest total by a Cardinal other than Fontaine this season.
Ball State (13-4, 5-1 MAC West) held Eastern Michigan 5-foot-2 point guard Cha Sweeney, the MAC's No. 4 scorer, to just two points on 1-for-13 shooting. She didn't score Saturday against Kent State, missing all 11 field-goal attempts.
“Clearly she's an all-conference level player, and she had a really bad night,” Sallee said. “I don't know that we had a ton to do with it. I hate to see the team she does get it figured out against because she's probably going to take it out on them.”
Ball State assumed sole possession of first place in the MAC West with Toledo losing at Akron. The Cardinals will play at 2 p.m. Saturday at Western Michigan.
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