Ball State (6-3, 0-0 MAC) made history Dec. 11 in its 81-55 victory against Utah State (5-4, 0-0 MW). Freshman Madelyn Bischoff sunk a three-point shot from the corner with one minute and 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter, marking 16 three-pointers for the Cardinals, a new program record inside Worthen Arena.
“It’s always the plan,” head coach Brady Sallee said. “I thought our ball movement and tempo off the ball was really good. They seemed to be a step behind our ball movement.”
Junior Sydney Freeman and redshirt junior Anna Clephane paced the Cardinals with 16 points each, while senior Thelma Dis Agustsdottir scored 12 points. Bischoff and freshman Marie Kiefer recorded 11 points. Kiefer also led Ball State in steals with three. Freshman Ally Becki totaled eight assists and seven rebounds, both team-highs.
Sallee emphasized seven different Ball State players were involved in the 16 three-point shots.
“It didn't just come from a couple of people being hot,” Sallee said. “When you can throw seven people out there that can bang them [and] make the amount we did, that's going to make for a pretty good night.”
Ball State defeated the Aggies by 26 points, its third-largest win of the season. Dis Agustsdottir converted 4-of-8 shots from the three-point line and said the Cardinals played with energy.
"It just gets us more excited [and] ready to play the next game,” Dis Agustsdottir said. “It was a fun game to play, we made a lot of shots to begin with. It was definitely the way we want to play.”
Ball State shot 43.2% (16-of-37) from the three-point line in the process of breaking the program record, but Sallee said the defensive performance against Utah State was important.
“I also like what we did on the defensive [end], holding their lead score to two points,” Sallee said. “I think that speaks for the steps we're taking on the defensive end as well.”
Ball State returns to Worthen Arena Dec. 20 for its final non-conference game of the season against Bellarmine (1-6). Tipoff is 6:30 p.m.
Contact Daniel Kehn with comments at daniel.kehn@bsu.edu or on Twitter@daniel_kehn.