CLEVELAND – When Ball State women’s head coach, Brady Sallee, is up during the “lonely hours” in his hotel finding it hard to sleep, he is thinking of getting his seniors a Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship.
The seniors have put in the hard work, put in the years and built the program up. This is their last MAC Tournament of their careers. Now, the Cardinals have to get the job done, Sallee said.
Ball State (25-7, 17-2 MAC) got a step closer to achieving their ultimate goal with a MAC Tournament first round 82-53 win against Western Michigan (12-18, 8-11 MAC).
Sallee said the Cardinals came out ready to play. After seniors Madelyn Bischoff and Alex Richard started hitting shots early, he said Ball State dug their heels in after that.
Ball State outscored the Broncos 25-15 in the opening frame and shot it at an efficient 64.7 percent from the field.
“Once we got our run in, that's when we just flipped the gas pedal,” senior Ally Becki said.
Becki said there is a little added pressure in realizing it could be the final game of her career in the tournament if Ball State lost, but the first game is always the most nerve-racking.
“It adds pressure,” senior Marie Kiefer said, agreeing with Becki. “But I think since we've been here for so long, we're experienced, and we know what we have to do.”
Even if the seniors felt the pressure, Becki finished with 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting with eight asssits. Kiefer had a double-double with ten points and 13 rebounds. Bischoff finished with 14 points while being 50 percent from deep, and Richard had a team-high 17 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Graduate student Elise Stuck had 12 points off the bench in only 17 minutes played.
Becki is one day removed from being named the MAC Player of the Year, but could not be more happy that the race is over. She said it is relieving to get it out of the way and focus on the task at hand: winning the MAC Championship.
Becki said there is an added "sense of urgency" since this is the senior's last go-around, but the locker room still has the same mentality—to play for each other.
Just as Becki said urgency was a mentality this week, Sallee pinpointed the two back-to-back losses against Toledo and Kent State as creating that same urgency.
“We got away from talking about technical things and just talking about fight,” Sallee said. “More importantly, who we were fighting for. When those kids look in that locker room at each other, there's no question who they're fighting for.”
Alongside his seniors, Sallee said he is trying to take a step back and enjoy the ride with the 2024-25 squad.
“These groups don't come along every day,” Sallee said.
Sallee said some moments he has stepped back and appreciated are the players smiling and genuinely happy.
“I know that trophy that we won the other day, or hopefully the one we win here, it's going to sit in somebody's office and collect dust at some point,” Sallee said. “But those memories, man, that's what this is about. Ultimately, that's what we're chasing.”
Ball State will face the winner of Kent State vs. Miami and play at 10 a.m. with a trip to MAC the championship game on the line.
Contact Elijah Poe via email at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on X @ElijahPoe4.
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