Trailing by 13 points against a Mid-American Conference opponent, Ball State had nothing to lose.
The Ball State women’s basketball team shot just 24.1 percent in the first half against visiting Buffalo. One player who was consistent in both halves, though, was sophomore forward Nathalie Fontaine.
Fontaine scored a career-best 30 points, shooting 10-of-18 from the floor and 10-of-12 from the free throw line.
“Because we were down so much, it was just, attack,” she said. “Like we wouldn’t have [anything] to lose.”
Though Ball State narrowed a 13-point halftime deficit, it still fell to visiting Buffalo 69-73.
It took Ball State 10 minutes to score its first field goal. Up to that point, the Cardinals had scored two points on four free throw attempts.
Ball State couldn’t get its shots to connect throughout the first half, causing it to fall behind quickly as Buffalo continued to take demand of the scoreboard.
“Buffalo out-toughed us.” Sallee said.
Ball State shot 7-of-29 in the first half, shooting just 2-of-14 from behind the three-point line.
Things turned around in the second half. Ball State started to narrow the gap, as it shot 50 percent from the floor in the half.
Every time Fontaine had an opportunity to drive to the basket, she was going head on, finding the open pocket and making big plays.
Head coach Brady Sallee was impressed with Fontaine’s offense.
“She put us on her back offensively and made a bunch of tough shots,” he said. “Offensively, she was really, really good. There’s no question.”
Fontaine shot 10-18 on the floor and 10-12 from the free-throw line. Her previous career high was 23 points, a mark she most recenlty reached against Western Kentucky, where she shot 6-of-15 from the floor and 11-of-12 from the free-throw line.
The Cardinals hit 23-of-61 field goals as a team, and 6-of-24 from three-point range. The team’s shooting from the first half to the second half improved dramatically.
Sallee told the team at halftime that they had to play through the adversity, and take “ownership.”
“I thought it was important for us [the team] to kind of point the finger at ourselves and get it fixed,” Sallee said.
Though the Cardinals were able to fight back, as if they had nothing to lose, it wasn’t enough. This is Ball State’s second consecutive loss giving them a record of 3-4 in the Mid-American Conference.
“We had some issues out there making some shots early,” he said. “Dug ourselves a hole, and I guess to make it a game at all was a little bit surprising there at the end.”
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