Defense and Depth Moves Women’s Basketball Past Big XII foe Cincinnati

Thursday, November 20

Muncie, Ind.

6:30 pm

Ball State University

5-0,0-0MAC

University of Cincinnati

1-4,0-0Big 12

Cincinnati

Ball St.

Photo by: Samantha Blankenship / Ball State University

Defense and Depth Moves Women’s Basketball Past Big XII foe Cincinnati

November 20, 2025 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

The Cardinals remain undefeated with a 5-0 ledger while head coach Brady Sallee picks up his ninth win over a Power 4 Conference team

MUNCIE, Ind. - The Ball State women's basketball team's fiery defense helped lead the Cardinals to an 83-63 victory over Big XII foe Cincinnati Thursday night in Worthen Arena.

With the win, Ball State remains undefeated with a 5-0 record for the second-straight season while Cincinnati drops to 1-4 overall.

Ball State head coach Brady Sallee has now defeated a Power 4 conference team nine 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), Texas A&M (75-62) and Cincinnati (83-63).

Bree Salenbien led the Cardinals with a career best 26-point performance, she also registered her second double-double of the season after adding 10 rebounds. Tessa Towers collected her third double-double this year with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Rounding out the Cardinals double-digit scoring was Karsyn Norman (13), Aniss Tagayi (13) and Grace Kingery (12).

For the game, Ball State pulled down 52 rebounds as a team. The Cardinals, who lead the nation in defensive rebounds, ended the contest with 34.

The Cardinals continue to dominate for the third-straight contest in the opening quarter of play as Ball State went on a 14-2 run to take a 10-point (14-4) edge over Cincinnati with 4:22 on the clock. Defensively, the Bearcats were held to only four points for over a six-minute stretch. The Bearcats cold feet began to get a little warmer towards the end of the frame, but BSU was able to hold onto a 17-8 advantage to end the quarter.

Ball State kept Cincinnati at arms link in the second period finding itself up by 13 (27-14) at the 6:11 mark after back-to-back 3's from Salenbien and Grace Kingery. The Bearcats came within single digits on a few occasions, but the Cardinals defense deemed to be too much which led to back-to-back 3-pointers from Salenbien along with free throws that helped Ball State end the first half with a 39-23 cushion over the Bearcats.

Salenbien shined in the first half scoring 20 points after going 7-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from the 3-point line.

Following the break, the Cardinals went up by as many as 22 after a layup from Towers (45-23) with just a minute shaved off the clock. A few intense plays later Cincinnati was able to come within 14 (47-33) with 6:40 remaining in the third stanza.

After that, Ball State amped up the ball pressure to stop Cincinnati from making an impactful comeback. Salenbien continued to find ways to score by attacking the basket and getting to the line to help BSU end the third with a 64-43 cushion.

The Cardinals continued to control the tempo of the ball game in the final stanza which eventually led to their impressive win over the Bearcats.

All-in-all the Cardinals main objective was to shut down Cincinnati's top scorer and that they did holding Mya Perry (22.0 ppg) to only two points in the first half and 10 total for the contest.

The Ball State women's basketball team will host a "Hoops Giving" contest at home Monday against the University of Illinois-Chicago in Worthen Arena at 6:30 pm ET.