Associate head coach and acting head coach Lisa McDonald met with each player of the Ball State University women's basketball team this week to talk about the upcoming conference schedule and said each player had one thought in mind.
"We agree that our start is in the past," McDonald said. "The team has learned from the positive and negative aspects of the season and we are ready to put it behind us."
The Cardinals played three games in the past three weeks and finished the stretch 1-2, completing the non-conference half of the season with a 4-9 record. McDonald was acting head coach during the two-game tournament because of head coach Tracy Roller's recovery from mononucleosis and an inner ear infection.
The team played two games of the Lady Rebel Christmas Classic in Las Vegas against Liberty University and Austin Peay State University.
In its first game of the Christmas Classic Ball State faced a 10-1 Liberty team whose starting lineup averaged 6 feet 1 inch, the height of the Cardinals' two tallest players. Moriah Frazee, Megan Frazee and Molly Frazee, a trio of 6-foot-3-inch forwards, led the Flames and combined for 43 points and 24 rebounds against the shorter Ball State team. The Cardinals were outerbounded 44-36 and outscored in the paint 24-18 in the loss.
The Cardinals shot 45 percent and went 10-22 from behind the arc against Austin Peay resulting in Ball State's first victory since Nov. 24, the last time the team shot better than 45 percent from the floor.
Guard Porchia Green helped to break the six-game losing streak by leading the team with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Posting the fifth double-double of her career earned the junior a spot on the Christmas Classic All-Tournament Team, her second mid-season all-tournament honor.
Ball State returned to Worthen Arena to battle Butler in its final non-conference game of the season. The Cardinals shot 25 percent in the first half and 21-58 in the contest. The Ball State bench was outscored 19-4 by Butler in the loss, the 10th time the bench was beat out this season.
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