Already leading 79-34 at halftime, Ball State head coach Brady Sallee pulled most of his starters after opening the third quarter with a 12-0 run. This allowed all 11 players to receive at least 12 minutes of court-time apiece.
Junior guard Jill Morrison, named preseason All-MAC West, liked what she saw from her unusual spot on the bench.
“Them being able to come in here and step up like that, it was über,” she said. “It was just really impressive for us on the bench to watch that.”
Sallee said he would like to continue to go to the end of his bench throughout the regular season.
“I’d love to be able to play nine or 10, no doubt about it,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s realistic, but you can always use depth defensively to wear other teams down.”
Before yesterday’s practice, Sallee said he would use tonight’s exhibition game to gauge the Cardinals’ comfort-level with new schemes.
“There’s a lot of things that we’ve been doing in practice that I want to see under the lights, when you can smell the popcorn,” he said. “I wanna see how these kids react. … It’s one thing in practice, but when those lights are on, it’s a whole different animal.”
Just one starter played more than six minutes in the second half — freshman Carmen Grande — but Sallee said Grande and sophomore Brionna Simond were challenging each other for playing time — and will continue to do so.
Even though Grande led the team with 28 minutes and totaled 7 assists, three steals and four rebounds, Sallee was quick to praise Simond, who had 8 points, five assists and three steals of her own.
“I think [Simond] really affected the game defensively there for a stretch,” Sallee said. “That’s what I’ve been begging her to do, and when she can play off that, she can impact us offensively too.”
In addition to more than doubling Urbana’s point total, Ball State forced 30 turnovers while conceding 11 and outrebounded the Blue Knights 46-18. The Blue Knights do not have anybody listed at 6-foot or taller, and the team had just three players that topped 5-foot-10.
Despite the height mismatch, Sallee has been training the Cardinals to attack the boards.
“He puts a lot of emphasis on rebounding because if you look at our last game, it’s basically what knocked us out [of the MAC tournament],” senior Nathalie Fontaine said.
Fontaine and freshman Lucia Fernandez tied for the team lead with 24 points each, and five other Cardinals scored more than 10 points during the game.
Ball State will officially kick off its season on Nov. 13 in Charlotte, N.C., and will play its home opener against Western Kentucky at 7 p.m. Nov. 19.
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