After two games of renewed conference hope, the Ball State has come back down to earth.
The women’s basketball team (5-11 overall, 2-1 MAC) picked up its first Mid-American Conference loss to Bowling Green Wednesday night, 73-42.
Ball State coach Brady Sallee was candid after the game.
“Bowling Green came out after a tough loss to Toledo and took it out on us a little bit,“ Sallee said. “Our kids did not respond very well and all the credit to BG. They were ready to go and showed us what the top of the league looks like.“
Ball State started the game with 16 consecutive missed field goals. The only points Ball State scored during the game’s first 11:52 was off free throws. Finally, at the 8:06 mark, junior Lyzz Smith hit a 3-pointer that ended the nosedive.
“No. To be honest, no,” Sallee said when asked if he’s ever seen anything like the 16 consecutive missed shots. “A lot of things go into that. We took some bad shots. We took some shots out of the offense. You don’t fault anybody for doing it, they’re trying to get you going.”
Sallee said that his team’s bad shots allowed Bowling Green to get easy transition points on the other end, leading to an even bigger hole for Ball State.
“It was a double-edged sword,” Sallee said, “Our kids are learning these lessons.“
During that run, Bowling Green went on a 23-4 run to start the game.
That run put the Cardinals in a hole that they couldn’t dig themselves out of.
Even after the 0-16 slump, Ball State shot just 14-38 in the rest of the game, good for 37 percent.
“We didn’t seem ever, in the first half, to play on the same page,” Sallee said. “I’d have a couple doing one thing, and someone else would be standing around. When you literally have somebody standing around on almost every possession, how in the world can you ever expect to be successful?“
One area the Cardinals were successful in was in the turnover department.
Despite the scoring discrepancy, Ball State (16) still had fewer turnovers than Bowling Green (18).
“It’s a nature of the way we play,” Sallee said. “The good news is we did take care of the ball, we just shot it ridiculously bad. At the end of the day, you try to take some positives out of it.“
The first-year coach also stressed the importance of playing with discipline, even with such a frustrating loss. Senior Shanee’ Jackson picked up a technical foul late in the game. Sallee said he didn’t actually see the play, but “you want to keep your head in those situations. You don’t get a lot out of those frustration-based plays.“
Sallee still gave credit to Bowling Green after the game.
“They just weren’t going to take it easy on us, and we had to step up to their level of play, and didn’t do it until it was too late.”
