Ball State University
Davidson College (Field Trip Day)
Women's Basketball Hosts Davidson for Eighth Annual "Field Trip Day" Thursday
December 04, 2024 | Women's Basketball
Game No. 9
Ball State (5-3) vs. Davidson (3-5)
Dec. 5, 2024 >>Worthen Arena>>11 a.m. ET>>Muncie, Ind.
Opening Tip:
- Ball State is looking to snap its two-game losing streak when it hosts Davidson, Thursday morning fat 11 a.m. ET for the Cardinals' annual "Field Trip Day".
- Today's contest marks the eighth annual Field Trip Day. The Cardinals are 7-0 on Field Trip Day with wins against Milwaukee (84-75 OT), Arkansas Pine Bluff (88-60), Austin Peay (89-57),
Bowling Green (77-70), Xavier (70-49), IU East (105-51) and Tennessee Tech (97-64).
- This is the first-ever meeting between Ball State and Davidson. The Wildcats have lost their last two contests after falling to Virginia Tech (79-50) and Belmont (69-59). Davidson is member of the A-10 Conference.
- With the win over Texas A&M, Ball State head coach Brady Sallee has now defeated a Power 5 conference team eight times during his tenure with the Cardinals — Minnesota (54-51, 2012-13), Iowa (77-72, 2015-16), Vanderbilt (88-79, 2017-18), Purdue (66-60, 2017-18), Pitt (68-66, 2022-23), Pitt (73-62, 2023-24), Georgia (52-51, 2023-24) and Texas A&M (75-62).
- In the second quarter against Columbia University on Nov.25, senior Marie Kiefer became Ball State women's basketball's all-time blocks leader with 153 total blocks passing former Cardinal Tamara Bowie who owned the record of 152 since 2003.
- After today's contest, the Cardinals will play two games on the road at No. 7 Ohio State (Dec. 10) and at Northern Kentucky (Dec. 15). Ball State will then return home for their final contest of 2024 at Worthen Arena on Dec. 19, against Anderson University at 6:30 p.m. ET. Tickets are available for $1.00 for that game and make sure you wear an ugly Christmas sweater.
- The month of December has been good to the Cardinals their last two seasons. Ball State owns an 11-3 ledger during the festive holiday month from 2022- present.
Ally Buckets:
Ally Becki has picked up where she left off last season. The senior guard recently recorded her first triple double on Nov 13 against Memphis. For the game, Becki scored 22 points, pulled down 10 rebounds while dishing out 10 assists. Becki's triple double also marked the first from a Ball State women's basketball player since at least 2010 when the NCAA started keeping the triple double stat. It also remains the first NCAA women's basketball Division I triple double of the season.
Home Sweet Home:
John E. Worthen Arena has been very good to the Cardinals for the past decade. Ball State has a record of 191-87 (.654) at Worthen Arena from 2004-present. In 13 seasons Brady Sallee has compiled a 125-56 (.691) record in Worthen Arena. His best season at home was in 2022-23 when the Cardinals went 15-1 in Worthen.
Inside the Paint:
Ball State is 4-2 when winning the paint battle and this year; vs. Old Dominion (38-24), IU Indy (36-12), Memphis (60-28) and Northern Iowa (28-24). Ball State tied with Texas A&M, 34-34 and led that stat category in a loss to South Dakota State (32-14).
Forcing Miscues:
Ball State has caused its opponents to commit 149 turnovers in seven games. The Cardinals have been able to turn those turnovers into a total of 157 points so far this season: Old Dominion (21 pts), IU Indy (25 pts), Memphis (22 pts), Northern Iowa (21 pts), No. 16 Northern Carolina (14 pts), Texas A&M (29 pts) and Columbia (eight).
Scouting Davidson:
- Gayle Fulks became Davidson's 12th women's basketball head coach on May 10, 2017. She is in her eighth season at the helm of the Davidson women's basketball program.
- Candice Lienafa leads the way for Davidson in scoring with 11.5 points per game. Defensively the Wildcats are paced by Katie Donovan who is currently averaging 5.6 rebounds per contest.
- Last year the Wildcats were plagued by many injuries that caused Davidson to forfeit some contests at the end of the season. Davidson ended its season with an overall record of 18-8.
- Ball State is the only Mid-American Conference team Davidson will face this season.
Next Up:
The Cardinals will travel to No. 7 Ohio State on Tuesday, Dec. 10 for a 6 pm ET tipoff in the Jerome Schottenstein Center. This will be the third-ever meeting between the Cardinals and the Buckeyes. Ohio State leads the all-time series record, 2-0. The last time the two teams met was on Dec. 15, 1996 in Columbus, Ohio, resulting in a 73-51 loss for the Cardinals.
