By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The exhibition is in the books, preseason workouts are done. When the ball tips off Monday night for the Tennessee Tech women, everything is for real.
The Golden Eagles will be challenged in their home opener Monday night as Ball State out of the Mid-American Conference comes to town. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Dylan Vazzano and Michael Cooper will handle the broadcast on ESPN+ (subscription required). There will be no radio broadcast of this game as the Tech men play Tennessee at the same time.
The Cardinals come in with high expectations, picked second in the MAC after reaching the league's title game last March with wins over Northern Illinois and Toledo before falling to Buffalo. Ball State earned a berth in the WNIT – the seventh under head coach Brady Sallee.
If Sallee's name sounds familiar, it should. He coached Eastern Illinois for eight seasons between 2004 and 2012, winning an Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title in 2009-10. He has an 11-8 record against the Golden Eagles, going 10-8 at Eastern Illinois and 1-0 as the head coach of Ball State.
The two teams last met back on November 30, 2013 in Las Vegas in the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout with the Cardinals the victors. Diamond Henderson led all scorers with 22 points, but Ball State had four in double figures as Nathalie Fontaine scored 16, Jill Morrison and Brittany Carter 15 and Renee Bennett added 14.
Ball State will be powered by sophomore guard Ally Becki, who was named to the Preseason All-MAC first-team roster last week. She started every game and averaged 11.1 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, scoring in double-figures 18 times, including a career-best 27 points at Ohio. The Cardinals finished 20-13 last season, 11-8 in the MAC.
BSU was ranked 14th in the CollegeInsider.com Women's Basketball Preseason Mid-Major Top 25 poll as it was released earlier in the week.
It's a challenging start to the campaign for the Golden Eagles as the non-conference slate will test Tech before league play begins in late December. The first six games include five difficult contests with the Cardinals, Cincinnati, Samford, Northern Kentucky and traditional rival Middle Tennessee all peppering the early calendar.
After seeing a tremendous graduate group wrap up their careers last year including Mackenzie Coleman, Anna Jones, Kesha Brady and Megan Clark, the Golden Eagles are reloading – bringing graduate Jordan Brock back for her sixth campaign, bolstering the lineup with seniors Jada Guinn and Maaliya Owens and a wealth of returning standouts and intriguing newcomers.
It will indeed be a tall order to replace over 55 percent of the scoring from last season, but the first portion of the season will be an excellent opportunity to fit the pieces together to form another dynamic lineup to take charge in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Golden Eagles were picked to win the OVC race in the preseason poll with Brock, Guinn and junior Anna Walker on the preseason team.
Season tickets are on sale now – call (931) 372-3940, visit the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office or visit TTUsports.com to order.
Photo | Jim Dillon
