Ball State women’s basketball head coach Brady Sallee said the 2024-25 Cardinals are actively trying to be their best version of themselves, and today they turned into a bear.
“In this game, you got to make a decision whether or not you want to poke the bear,” Sallee said. “I thought the bear got poked a little bit today and got pretty nasty.”
The aggressive paint play (or the bear) aided Ball State (11-4, 3-0 MAC) to a 101-69 win over Mid-American Conference opponent Eastern Michigan University (1-12, 0-3 MAC).
Sallee said the Cardinals were able to establish themselves at the rim and pointed out seniors Alex Richard and Marie Kiefer as the large reason why.
The Cardinals outrebounded the Eagles 41-27 and outscored them 54-30 in the paint.
Last season the Cardinals bolstered a “three-headed monster” in the paint with Richard, Kiefer and then senior Annie Rauch. This season the Ball State paint showcases Richard, Kiefer, graduate student Elise Stuck and graduate student Maliyah Johnson.
Richard said the group has different strengths, but when they are all playing their best, they are a tough group to beat. She said their depth creates countless options for the Cardinals.
“We're all very versatile and all very different, but as a whole, we've been able to play together really well, and it hasn't been a struggle,” Stuck said.
Stuck said the group still has things to work on to be a seamless collective but has improved on seeing the high-low options.
Richard finished the game with 21 points on 8-for-13 shooting with ten rebounds for a double-double. Richard was out for roughly a month due to injury and said her time out of a uniform formed a hunger that has stuck with her.
“I just need to dominate,” Richard said.
Kiefer also finished with a double-double. She had ten points, ten rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block in 23 minutes before fouling out.
Sallee said Kiefer has been hard on herself in the past couple of games, but said she brought a different energy to the court against the Eagles.
Stuck, Kiefer, Richard and Johnson are all seniors or graduate students and Sallee said they have brought a real veteran feel to the position group by how they practice.
A specific example Sallee gave is when a post player avoided giving a charge in practice. Sallee asked them if they would take the charge on a game day and was affirmed that they would. He said a younger player would never get away with something like that in practice but realizes veteran players have to practice by also taking care of themselves. And he trusts that.
“They understand what we got to do and how we have to do it,” Sallee said.
Ball State will next travel to Buffalo to face the Bulls Jan. 11 at 2 p.m.
Contact Elijah Poe via email at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or via X @ElijahPoe4
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