Women’s Basketball Opens MAC Play on New Year’s Day at Bowling Green
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Game 11 | Ball State at Bowling Green
January 1 | Bowling Green, Ohio | Stroh Center | 2 p.m. Eastern time
Watch: ESPN3 | Listen: Muncie Sports Station (102.9 FM / 1340 AM) | Live stats
Game Notes: Ball State | bowling green
Opening tip:
– Ball State and Bowling Green have met a total of 69 times in the program’s history with the Falcons leading the all-time series record, 45-24.
Prior to last season, Ball State had won the last 10 meetings between the two programs. The last time the Cardinals played at BGSU, it resulted in a score of 86-80 in Ball State overtime on January 8, 2020 at Stroh Center.
The ten-game winning streak against the Falcons is ranked #1 between Ball State and any other MAC school. The next team was Miami, and the Ball State defeated them seven times in a row until the 2018-19 season.
The first meeting between Bull State and Bowling Green was in 1974-1975, the Cardinals defeated the Hawks 58-52 in Terry Hut, Indiana.
Both teams were supposed to open the 2021-22 Mid-America Conference seasons on Wednesday, December 29. The Cardinal was scheduled to play against Western Michigan and the Hawks were scheduled to compete in Eastern Michigan. Both matches have been postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
– The Cardinals are looking for their fourth straight win as BSU finished the season on a ledger 7-3 with no conferences. The Falcons also concluded 2021 with a victory over UT Martin and will enter Saturday’s competition with a 5-4 score not tied to the conference.
In The Nation In 3’s:
The Cardinals are currently ranked 16th in the nation among their Division I peers in 3-point field goals per game (9.3). Ball State also ranks in the top 50 in 3-point field goal attempts as it ranked 27th with 298 and 38th in the state for a total of 3-pointers with a score of 93.
Agustsdottir approaches 1,000:
Ball State’s grand smasher Thelma Dis Agustsdottir is approaching a 1,000 point plateau. Agustsdottir currently has 991 points and needs nine to become the 30th member of the 1,000-point team and ninth under coach Brady Sally.
Backs, smashes, and keys:
This year, the Cardinals are abandoning the “traditional” positions and using their own positions such as their backs, chasers, and keys, to instill a sense of team unity. This system proved to be the Ball State lift needed, especially with so many new faces on the field. BSU started the season 2-0 for the first time since 2017.
Ball control:
In the last four cardinal competitions, the Ball State has managed to limit its turnovers against its opponents. Against Purdue Fort Wayne, the Cardinal only made 12 turns and then emulated that kind of performance against Pete with a season low nine fouls. Currently, the Cardinal’s assist/turn ratio is 1.27 which is good for the National 19th ranking.
Sallee and MAC openers:
Under the guidance of Year 10 head coach Brady Sally, the Cardinal made a 5-4 run in the Mid-American Conference openers and a 1-0 win against Bowling Green. The last time the Ball State opened league play was against the Falcons on January 3, 2015 at the Stroh Center. That match resulted in the Cardinals winning 62-50.
MAC success:
Under the guidance of Year 10 Head Coach Brady Sally, the Cardinals had great success during their Mac’s work. Sallee enters this conference season with a 102-60 (.629) MAC career record. The Cardinals fired their card straight to Cleveland in the MAC Championship seven times out of the eight under Sallee and made it to the championship game twice. Ball State claimed the MAC West Division title in 2014-15 and reached the post-season stage six times including reaching the Round of 16 in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) in Sally’s inaugural year.
MAC COVID Policy:
The Mac announced that due to the current spike in COVID cases and its impact on winter sports programmes. If possible, games that cannot be played will be rescheduled as scheduled. If the game cannot be played and cannot be rescheduled, it will be considered without competition. For men’s and women’s basketball, a team must meet a minimum of seven student athletes for the scholarship and one coach to play a game.
Card information:
Call 888.BSU.TICKET or 765.285.1474 to join the Cardinal’s family inside the Worthen Arena! Season tickets and kits are on sale now. Singles tickets will be available Monday, October 18 at the numbers listed above and online at Ticketmaster.com.
Scouting Bowling Green:
Coach Robyn Fralick, in her fourth season at the helm of the Falcons, brought back 10 players from last year’s BGSU roster.
The Falcons, after notching 10-21 overall and 3-15 in the MAC two years ago, were selected to finish 11th in the 12-team league in 2020-21, according to a pre-season coaches poll. BG proceeded to set a 14-4 MAC record to win the regular season crown. Next, Orange and Brown defeated Eastern Michigan and Buffalo in the MAC Championship in Cleveland, before falling to Central Michigan in the championship match.
– BGSU advanced to WNIT and finished with a total score of 21-8. BG tied for second best turnover in the state, with a +12.0 match improvement.
This season, the Falcons were selected to finish second in the MAC in the pre-season coaches poll.
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