Ball State University
16-6, 8-3MAC
Central Michigan
16-7,10-2MAC
WBB Suffers 74-65 Loss Against MAC West Leader CMU
February 11, 2016 | Women's Basketball
By Doug Zaleski
Ballstatesports.com
Here's your sign.
In the first 35 seconds of the second half of Wednesday's women's basketball game, Central Michigan forward Tinara Moore was stranded beyond the 3-point line on the left wing with the ball.
The 6-foot-3 sophomore looked to each side of her and found nobody. She peered into the post and saw teammates covered.
Having lost her dribble, and Ball State defenders backing off because she's not a deep perimeter shooter, Moore picked a third option. She shot the ball, and it went in the basket for a 3-point goal. It was only Moore's third successful 3-pointer of her career, two of which came Wednesday.
That was indicative of how the game unfolded for Ball State. The Cardinals sputtered and stuttered. They missed shots. They didn't defend. And in the end, they lost 74-65 to the Chippewas in a showdown for first place in the Mid-American Conference West Division race.
“They whooped us tonight,” Cardinals coach Brady Sallee said.
Indeed, the Chippewas (16-7, 10-2 Mid-American Conference West) did as they punched Ball State (16-6, 8-3 MAC West) in the mouth in a showdown for sole possession of first place in the West Division.
An overall lack of energy and poor shooting forced Ball State to fall behind early during a game in which it never led. The Chippewas were on top 33-27 at halftime and led by as many as 19 points early in the fourth quarter.
Falling behind in the first half is nothing new for the Cardinals, but many times they were able to overcome a deficit.
“I honestly thought at halftime we were going to come out and play better like we have done in the past,” Cardinals senior forward Nathalie Fontaine said. “But that didn't happen until it was too late. The hole was too deep.”
Ball State shot just 35.7 percent from the field, its third-worst number of the season. A .227 percentage from the 3-point line was its worst in the past eight games.
Central Michigan's 44.6 percent shooting was the best against the Cardinals this season.
Sallee believes there's value in learning by watching the video of a bad performance, but he thinks he knows what he's going to see when he turns it on.
“What I'm afraid of is the lessons we'll talk about off this film are effort-related, want-to related,” he said. “I don't know if there's a coach out there good enough to coach those two things. You have to have it.
“The head-scratching part of this is all year we've had that, but tonight we didn't. … I'm going to start by tipping my hat to Central Michigan.”
Fontaine was among a precious few positive contributors as she posted her 29th career double-double with 29 points and 14 rebounds (seven on offense). She increased her career point total to 1,972 and trails Ball State all-time leader Tamara Bowie by 119 points.
Fontaine received little help from several other starters who struggled on offense. Jill Morrison, Moriah Monaco and Renee Bennett combined to make only 3-of-25 shots and score nine points. Morrison and Monaco combined to shoot 1-for-14 from the 3-point line.
Shelby Merder gave a boost with eight points in the first half off the bench. Frannie Frazier provided nine off the bench in the second half and added four steals and four rebounds. Carmen Grande made 4-of-8 shots and scored 10 points.
But the lack of a spark hurt the Cardinals all game.
“I told (teammates) after the game we can't come out like this anymore, and it starts (today) in practice,” Fontaine said. “We have to practice hard and think about the next game.”
The upcoming stretch of games will be challenging as the Cardinals play four of their next five on the road.
“We know this: If we lack effort on the road, we'll get beat,” Sallee said. “It doesn't matter who we play. If we'll play with effort and tenacity as this team has done all year, we can beat anybody.”
So far that hasn't included the two MAC division leaders. The Cardinals were 0-2 against East leader Ohio and are 0-1 against Central Michigan with a game at the Chippewas on Feb. 24. Two of those three losses were in Worthen Arena.
“We'll see where this falls,” Sallee said. “Central is good, Ohio is good, and I still think we're good. We just stunk tonight. That's as simple as I can put it.”
Central Michigan coach Sue Guevara, an assistant at Ball State in 1985-86, has led her team into first place in the West by winning seven straight games.
Moore led the Chippewas with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
The Cardinals will try to bounce back at 2 p.m. Saturday at Kent State. The Golden Flashes are 1-11 in MAC games.
