The women's basketball team focused on defense, one of theteam's main weaknesses last season, in their first exhibition gameagainst the Ohio Legends on Wednesday.
Ball State still had its memorable offense though, defeating theLegends 80-53.
"The MVP defensively was Tina Bolte," head coach Tracy Rollersaid. "She really set the tone and got up on the point guard andreally played great defense tonight."
Many times during the game Roller encouraged her team to playtough defense, yelling, "Come on, get a stop right now," and, "Nomore three's, lets go."
"I'm excited. I think our defense looked better tonight then itdid most of last season," senior Kate Endress said.
With only eight players available, the women's basketballstarted two players who have never had that experience. While theirfirst official start cannot come until the regular season,sophomore Tina Bolte and junior Krista Stewart gained experiencefrom the opportunity.
Endress, junior Raechelle Hampton and sophomore Kelsey Corbinwere the other starters. Those three along with junior Dana Collinsare the only ones on the team who have started in previousseasons.�
The three players that did not dress due to injury for the gamewere sophomore Becca Bajorek, sophomore Erica Cotton andCollins.
While the Cardinals missed Bajorek in the post, Hampton carriedthe team in that regard. She used 14 second-half points to help herfinish with a game-high 22 points. She also had nine rebounds.
"We knew tonight when Becca wasn't able to go that Raechelle wasgoing to have to play some major minutes tonight," Roller said. "Ithought she stepped up."
Stewart also helped out in the post, finishing with ten reboundsand nine points.
After the first six minutes, Ball State buckled down on defense,outscoring the Legends 10-0 and not allowing a basket for almostfive minutes.
Freshman Julie DeMuth helped many times on the defense end,finishing with six steals. The most notable of those came with 7:16left in the first half when she stole the ball and ran down thecourt to get a lay-up.
"She struggled from the field, but the thing about Julie isthat's not all she does. She helps you in so many ways," Rollersaid.
Freshman Lisa Rushe also had a good night in her firstcollegiate game, finishing with 14 points and six rebounds.
"I was really impressed with all the freshman tonight. I thoughteverybody really played better than expected," Roller said.
After committing multiple fouls in the second half, Ball Stateran into foul trouble. Corbin was forced to sit when she got herfourth with seven minutes remaining and Brandy Ross and KateEndress fouled out.
Endress played only 17 minutes and scored six of her eightpoints in the second half to help the Cardinals to the win.
Corbin was the only Cardinal to finish the game with adouble-double and an unlikely candidate to do so as a shootingguard. She had 11 points and 12 rebounds.
While the Cardinals have plenty to be happy about, they alsohave many things to work on.
"We certainly weren't perfect tonight; there's definitely thingswe need to work on," Endress said.
The Cardinals have almost two weeks off before their nextexhibition game on Nov. 15.
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