Women's Basketball Takes Undefeated 5-0 #MACtion Start on the Road at WMU Saturday

Saturday, January 17

Kalamazoo, MI

1 pm

Ball State University

Western Michigan University

Photo by: Samantha (Blankenship) Ellis/Ball State University

Women's Basketball Takes Undefeated 5-0 #MACtion Start on the Road at WMU Saturday

January 16, 2026 | Women's Basketball

Ball State at Western Michigan \| #MACtion
Game 18 at Western Michigan	Saturday, Jan. 17 at 1 pm ET
Gameday Info	Live Stats \| ESPN+ \| Radio
Game Notes and Media Info	Ball State \| Western Michigan
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Return of the MAC:

- Saturday's game against Western Michigan will mark the 96th time in program history the two schools have met with Ball State leading the all-time series record, 56-39. The Cardinals won their last meeting against the Broncos by a score of 82-53 on March 12, 2025 in the Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

- Ball State owns a 36-8 ledger over Western Michigan dating back to the 2004-05 season. Brady Sallee holds an 23-4 career mark against the Broncos.

- The last time the Cardinals lost to the Broncos in the MAC regular season was in Kalamazoo, Mich., which was on March 2, 2019 by a score of 72-54. Since then, Ball State has won 11-straight over Western Michigan.

- It may be cold outside but the Cardinals tend to get hot in the month of January under 14th-year head coach Brady Sallee. Sallee owns an overall record of 80-29 (.726) in the month of January dating back to his first season in 2012-13.

Road Warriors:
Under head coach Brady Sallee the Cardinals have played well on the road for the last 14 years under his watch. The Cardinals are 117-77 (.598) from 2012 until present on the road. Ball State's best season playing away from home was in 2020-21 when the Cardinals posted an 11-2 mark. Ball State is 7-3 this season on the road including neutral site games with defeats at Arkansas State, IU Indy, Memphis, Pitt, Alabama A&M, Akron and Northern Illinois.

5-0 in the MAC:
The Cardinals have opened their Mid-American Conference season with a 5-0 ledger for the third-straight season and the fifth time in program history. Ball State has won nine-straight MAC regular season contests dating back to last year with its last lost coming against Kent State by a 60-54 decision on Feb. 22, 2025.

Last Game Highlights:
Tessa Towers led the Cardinals against the Bulls, finishing with 16 points. She was strongly supported by teammates Grace Kingery and Bree Salenbien, who each contributed 14 points to the effort. Aniss Tagayi rounded out the significant scoring for the Cardinals, adding another 13 points in the contest while defensively, Alba Caballero turned in a personal best 11-rebound performance.

Scouting Western Michigan:

- Kate Achter was named Western Michigan women's basketball head coach on March 28, 2025. Achter, a proven program builder, is responsible for the largest turnaround in program history at Loyola Chicago, going from 2-28 to 18-12, and at Detroit Mercy, taking a 1-29 team to 32 wins over two seasons. She has an intimate knowledge of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) as a former standout at Bowling Green State University.

- Kelly Starks leads the Broncos in scoring averaging 11.5 points per game while D'Myjah Bolds heads the squads defensively averaging 6.2 rebounds a contest.- Western Michigan has two conference wins under its belt against Buffalo (83-65) and Akron (55-48). The Broncos are coming off of a 61-54 loss to Bowling Green on Wednesday in University Arena.

International Success:
The Cardinals have had plenty of international success under 14th year head coach Brady Sallee. We all remember Nathalie Fontaine the 6-2 guard from Stockholm, Sweden became Ball State's all-time leading scorer with 2,166 points. The 2016 MAC Player of the Year and AP honorable mention averaged 21.0 points per game and 10.2 rebounds while making over 50 percent of her shots. After Fontaine was Carmen Grande a native from Madrid, Spain who held onto the all-time assists record with 697 until Ally Becki surpassed her last season with 721 and we also cannot forget Thelma Dis Agustsdottir from Keflavik, Iceland who holds the all-time 3-point record with 325 treys. Agustsdottir also competed at the Celsius 3-point championship at the NCAA Tournament.