After losing to Northern Illinois University Wednesday night, the Ball State University women's basketball team travels to face another Mid-American Conference foe in the University of Akron Saturday.
Ball State (11-7, 4-1 MAC) will compete against a second-straight team that has a deep bench of reserves. Akron (7-11, 2-3 MAC) has one player on the roster that does not average at least 10 minutes a game.
Coach Kelly Packard said it will be on her and her staff to come up with ways to counter the Zips' deep bench.
"I think, certainly, it's going to cause me to be more creative and challenge ourselves just because there is a factor that fatigue can play," Packard said.
Akron is coming off a 64-62 win against Kent State University Wednesday night. The last time Akron beat Kent State prior to that was in 1999.
One reason for Akron's success against Kent State was their perimeter defense, holding the Golden Flashes to 2-for-14 from behind the arc.
Ball State junior guard Audrey McDonald will get the go-ahead from Packard to continue to shoot from the 3-point arc after struggling from behind the arc Wednesday against Northern Illinois, the coach said.
"She'll hear it from me [Friday] that if you get those same 10 looks from the 3-point arc Saturday, please take them," Packard said. "We'll continue to do what we have been doing for Audrey, which is multiple options within our offense that are specific to her and making sure she gets enough touches."
The Cardinals will have to slow down sophomore forward Kara Murphy, who is averaging 18.3 points per game this season. Murphy has led Akron in scoring in 15-of-18 games this year.
Packard said that multiple players will guard Murphy.
"We always look to see what we believe will be our best matchup on a shooter like [Murphy] who is posting the numbers that she is," Packard said, "and it's not always one person because that takes a lot of energy and effort so we'll rotate two, if not even three people towards someone like that. I think it's very likely that Danielle will begin with that matchup."
Junior forward Danielle Gratton will have to play with a protective mask because of a broken nose she received during the first half of the Northern Illinois game Wednesday.
"It's my understanding, with the mask, she is still going to be able to play," Packard said. "It'll take four to six weeks of wearing that to give her the protection that she needs in the mean time."
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