With one of its four consecutive road games behind them, the Ball State women's basketball team will travel to Kent, Ohio, on Saturday to try to get a win in a place where it has always struggled. After an 87-71 loss to Western Michigan, the Cardinals will look for a win against the Kent State Golden Flashes for the first time on their home court in 14 years.
"Any time you go up against a historical situation, you just have to go in confident and do the things you need to win," assistant coach Duffy Burns said about the matchup.
The Flashes, who are coming off an 85-66 win against Buffalo, have a 31-9 series advantage, including a 19-3 advantage on Kent's home court. This year the Flashes are 7-1 at home, including a perfect 5-0 against MAC competitors.
Kent State (13-8 overall) has used its home record and its recent road win against Buffalo to post a 6-4 conference record, which has the team in a distant second in the East Division, behind Miami with its 9-1 league record. Ball State (12-10 overall) remains in a close race in the West Division with its 7-4 league record. Ball State is in fourth place, a half-game behind Bowling Green, a game behind Eastern Michigan and two games behind Western Michigan.
Kent State, which uses mostly zone, is the second-best defensive team in the MAC, allowing only 60.9 points per game, while putting up an average of 64.6 points. Ball State, on the other hand, comes into the game allowing 72.9 points per game, which is the most of any MAC team, while putting up an average of 73.5 points.
"We're looking forward to going up there and attacking it," Burns said about the Flashes' zone.
Burns thought the post play for the Flashes might be the best it's ever been there. Forward Lindsay Shearer leads the team in scoring, with 13.9 points, while Center Andrea Csaszar is the only other player averaging double figures, with 12.9 points per game. Shearer and Csaszar are also the team's leading rebounders, with 7.4 and 8.3 rebounds per game, respectively. In conference play alone, two others are averaging double figures: Melissa Degrate with 10.7 and Heather Harris with 11.3.
For the Cardinals, junior Kate Endress remains in second place in the MAC, averaging 19.3 points per game, while senior Johna Goff averages 13.4. Senior Jessica Reiter also comes in on the MAC charts as a leader in rebounds, with 10.6, as well as averaging a double-double, with 10.1 points per contest.
"The best way to play against them is to run against them," Burns said. "We're going to get a lot of open looks, we just need to pass to them (and convert on them). "
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