The 3-point arc will be a determining factor when Kent State University comes to Worthen Arena to face the Mid-American Conference West Division leading Cardinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The Ball State University women's basketball team will have to defend one the best three point shooting teams in the nation. The Golden Flashes (16-5, 5-4 MAC) shoot 40.8 percent from behind the arc, the third best percentage in the nation behind the University of Maryland and Sacred Heart University. The Cardinals (15-8, 7-2 MAC) are ranked 42nd shooting 35.2 percent.
Ball State coach Kelly Packard said the Cardinals will have to contest each three-point attempt of the Golden Flashes.
"We defiantly prepare scout strategy for each game and your calculating those personal percentages," Packard said. "You defiantly have to be there on the catch with a contest. When you give help, you have to sprint and recover out of help with a contest."
Last season in a losing effort against Kent State, Ball State shooting 32.2 percent from the field and scored 54 points.
Against Northern Illinois University on Saturday, the Golden Flashes held the Huskies to 50 points, 18.6 points below Northern Illinois's scoring average a game in conference play.
Packard said Kent State's zone defense is "a different look than you often see" and Ball State may do some creative things to combat it.
"Coach [Bob] Lindsay has obviously been at Kent State a very lengthy time," Packard said, "And has kind of been distinguished by many things but one of them is his defense that he plays. It's a real difficult zone. It's a very aggressive zone."
Packard said the Cardinals would stay within their offense with their creativity.
"You just have to just look at where your strengths are and devise a plan that you think is going to be most successful against that type of defensive," Packard said.
Although Kent State is productive from behind the arc, the Golden Flashes most productive player -¡- senior Anna Kowalska - has not shot a three this season. The 6-foot-4-inch center is leading the team in scoring with 17.8 points per game shooting 53.7 percent from the floor. Kowalska also leads the team in rebounding with 8.8 boards a game and blocks with 40.
Kent State comes into Worthen Arena with a 1-3 conference road record. The Cardinals have posted a 10-1 record at home and are undefeated against MAC opponents at home.
In order to keep winning, Packard stresses that her team must continue to improve. One area Packard said she hopes to improve the most is rebounding.
"I would like to see us take larger steps of improvement right now in key areas, the number one area being rebounding, specifically offensive rebounding," Packard said. "We've just have not been consistent. We've just not been near as successful that are size and our mobility should indicate that we should be."
In an effort to improve offensive rebounding, Packard implemented a new reward system during practice.
If a player gets an offensive rebound during practice, they yell, "Got one!" If they get two, they yell, "Got two!" If a player gets a third offensive rebound, they yell, "Got three!" and the coaching staff blows a whistle and the team "does a little celebration".
"The way that we try to target it is making drills competitive and rewarding offensive rebounding," Packard said. "Just anything I can do to draw attention to that specific area of the game."
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