MAC West Division standings
Western Michigan 7-2
Ball State 6-3
Toledo 5-3
Central Michigan 5-3
Northern Illinois 4-4
Eastern Michigan 3-5
Inconsistency on defense has been a big issue for the Ball State women's basketball team recently, as shown by its 1-1 performance in league play last week.
"Every other day it seems like it's a completely different issue that's causing us problems, so it's going to take us awhile to sort it all out," head coach Brady Sallee said.
Despite a dominant victory over Miami on Jan. 28, Ball State struggled to impose the same will in a home loss to Northern Illinois on Jan. 31.
Against Miami, the defense fired on all cylinders, leading to a 17-point victory for Ball State on the road.
The Redhawks' offense was shut down as they shot 4-24 (16 percent) from field goal range and went 0-7 from three-point range in the first half, resulting in a huge 41-17 halftime lead for the Cardinals. The big first half for the defense would give the Cardinals a big cushion to work with for the rest of the second half.
"We did what we wanted to them and closed them down by halftime," Sallee said. "The full-court press worked really well against them."
When facing Northern Illinois, the full-court press did not carry the same momentum and was only effective for short spurts in the game, leading to a 65-62 loss at Worthen Arena.
The Huskies shot 14-29 (48 percent) from field goal range and 2-6 (33 percent) from three-point range.
"This is what it looks like when you aren't completely ready for an end-of-January conference game," Sallee said. "We are going to have to look ourselves in the mirror this off week and fix it."
The defense has looked confused and sluggish on the court at times recently, failing to produce turnovers and get steals as it did in the first part of Mid-American Conference play.
Ball State forced Miami into 22 turnovers and had 13 steals, stalling the Redhawks' offensive runs. Northern Illinois had 12 turnovers and had the ball stolen only six times in their win over Ball State.
The Cardinals have an entire week to work on their defense before they hit the road to battle Toledo in their first game of February.
Senior Shelbie Justice sees the challenge ahead and knows that she and her teammates must prepare mentally if they want to succeed and improve their standing.
"We can't just say we are going to this or that, everyone has to deep down want it or it's not going to work," Justice said.
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