No freshman on Ball State’s roster has any plans of being a one-and-done to the NBA, but collectively, the youth has made an instant impact for the Cardinals. Outside of starting point guard Zavier Turner, nobody really knew what to expect from the new faces on Ball State’s roster.
_David Polaski is a junior journalism and telecommunications major and writes ‘Dave’s Digs’ for the Daily News.
Pete Lembo said it perfectly following Ball State’s loss to Northern Illinois.
When the lights turn on in the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, the Ball State women’s volleyball team can’t afford to make mistakes. Not when one error could make the difference between a Mid-American Conference championship and leaving empty handed. As the pressure builds, so does the energy that seniors Jacqui Seidel and Kylee Baker play with.
As Ball State beat Southeast Missouri 87-83 Monday, seniors Chris Bond and Jesse Berry achieved new personal bests as they led their team to a 2-1 record on the year. Bond, who was last year’s Mid-American Conference leader in steals, scored a career-high 20 points, grabbed three rebounds and handed out an assist and as he carried his team to victory. “I was just playing throughout our offense, trying to stay in attack mode and crashing the offensive boards,” Bond said about his performance.
This men’s basketball team will go as far as the seniors carry it, head coach James Whitford has said.
The Ball State cross country team finished its season Friday at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional hosted at Wisconsin’s Zimmer Championship Course. The Cardinals had a strong showing in the women’s 6K with five of its six runners posting career-best times.
By the end of Saturday’s match against Western Michigan University, Lauren Grant had 10 kills. That would normally put a player at or near the top of the kill lead in a match. Not this time, though, not when four other players finished with even more in one of the strongest offensive performances of the season by the Ball State women’s volleyball team. But it wasn’t holes in the defense that Ball State was seeing that spurred the offense, said sophomore middle blocker Hayley Benson. “[It was] a lot of determination,” she said.
When news broke of a possible armed assailant Friday evening, the Ball State women’s basketball team was at practice inside Worthen Arena. “A couple policemen came out and said, ‘Coach, you need to get your team in the locker room and lock the doors,’” head coach Brady Sallee said.
Few things could make Ball State’s regular season closing win against Western Michigan University more satisfying for Jenna Spadafora. Doing it on her birthday is one of them. “I love that I got a win on my birthday,” Spadafora said.
Yet again Ball State turnovers cost a victory. Every player on the team but freshmen Jill Morrison and Haley Richardson committed at least one turnover in Ball State’s 63-58 loss to Pittsburgh. “It’s just been turnovers,” junior guard Brittany Carter said.
They were big, physical and at the end of the first half, in control. Atlantic Conference Coast opponent Pittsburgh held the Ball State women’s basketball team to 26 points in the first period.
Ball State has seen its fair share of strong outside hitters lately. It doesn’t get any easier Friday, when the Ball State women’s volleyball team travels to Northern Illinois University in the final weekend of the regular season. After facing Lauren Rafdal, who leads the Mid-American Conference in kills, the Cardinals will take on Mackenzie Roddy.
The excitement of raising a banner won’t make up for another tough loss. The Ball State women’s basketball team opened its season in defeat on Sunday with a 57–63 loss at Purdue.
DEKALB, Ill. – Ball State again was 15 minutes from a real shot at beating Northern Illinois University.
DEKALB, Ill. – Ball State’s Jonathan Newsome had Jordan Lynch dead to rights in the backfield, wrapped up for a loss on a third and 11. Unbelievably, yet somehow unsurprisingly, Northern Illinois University’s senior quarterback made something out of nothing and escaped for a first down as he has done all game and all season. The Huskies marched down the field and scored a touchdown on the drive, taking the lead. Northern Illinois wouldn’t trail for the remainder of the game as it beat Ball State, 48-27. The play was one of the first things Ball State head coach Pete Lembo mentioned following the game. “Newsome didn’t bring him down,” Lembo said.
For the third straight year, Northern Illinois beat Ball State, this time with the 48-27. The score was deadlocked heading into the fourth quarter, but Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch mastered a drive late in the quarter for the game-deciding touchdown.
Northern Illinois started the game deep in its own territory and Ball State quickly lost linebacker Quintin Cooper to a leg injury on the first drive.
Follow the battle between Wenning and Lynch as they face off in a key MAC West game.
There isn’t a single player on Ball State’s roster that has defeated Northern Illinois University.
