MAC women’s basketball round-up: Week of 12/5

Bobby Ellis (Ball State Creative Services)

Steve Iwanek, Sports Content Director

The calendar has flipped to the month of December, and as teams across the Mid-American Conference have begun their seasons, the intrigue into how each team has looked so far grows.

A look at some of the latest storylines and more.

MAC STANDINGS (courtesy of getsomemaction.com):
2023-24 Women’s Basketball Standings

SCHOOL
CONF
CPCT.
OVERALL
PCT.
HOME
AWAY
NEUTRAL
STREAK

Ball State
0-0
.000
6-1
.857
2-1
4-0
0-0
W1

Bowling Green
0-0
.000
5-2
.714
2-0
1-2
2-0
L1

Buffalo
0-0
.000
5-2
.714
5-0
0-2
0-0
L1

Toledo
0-0
.000
3-2
.600
0-1
1-1
2-0
W2

Kent State
0-0
.000
4-3
.571
1-0
2-2
1-1
L1

Western Michigan
0-0
.000
4-3
.571
2-0
1-2
1-1
W3

Akron
0-0
.000
3-3
.500
1-1
1-1
1-1
W2

Ohio
0-0
.000
2-3
.400
2-1
0-2
0-0
L1

Northern Illinois
0-0
.000
3-5
.375
1-0
0-5
2-0
L2

Miami
0-0
.000
1-4
.200
1-1
0-3
0-0
L1

Central Michigan
0-0
.000
1-5
.167
1-1
0-4
0-0
L3

Eastern Michigan
0-0
.000
1-5
.167
1-1
0-4
0-0
L3

STORYLINES:

Northwest Ohio welcoming blue bloods/big names in December– I never thought that I would actually say this, but NW Ohio is the place to be if you are a perennial star program in NCAA women’s basketball. Last year, we saw the Toledo Rockets host the Duke Blue Devils, who defeated the Rockets 58-41 and ended up advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. This year, Tricia Cullop’s squad welcomes Michigan to Savage Arena on Dec. 6, who the Rockets defeated in Ann Arbor last year. But the Rockets are not the only team in the area hosting big names. In fact, the name that Bowling Green is welcoming to the Stroh Center cannot get much bigger at all, as the current #1 team in the country, South Carolina, is coming to BGSU on Dec. 19 for a Tuesday night fight. BG’s head coach, Fred Chmiel, came to to Bowling Green after spending eight years as an assistant under Dawn Staley.
Ball State sits atop the MAC- Head coach Brady Sallee has to have a bad taste in his mouth following last year’s MAC semifinal loss to Bowling Green. But the 12th year head coach now has a team that is destined to be in the championship game. So far this season, the Cardinals are 6-1, with their lone loss coming against Notre Dame in South Bend. Sallee in the offseason added to his already talented roster by recruiting the service of the 2022-23 MAC Defensive Player of the Year in guard Nyla Hampton, who left Bowling Green to join Ball State. Add in the offensive prowess of Madelyn Bischoff (13 PPG) and Ally Becki (11.9 PPG), who both return from last year, and you have a team who is poised to continue it’s success. The Cardinals face Connecticut on Dec. 6 in Storrs.
Bass dominant through six games– While Akron a season ago was not the most special group in the world, they do have themselves a veteran who knows how to score the ball. Reagan Bass, the junior from Strongsville, Ohio, is averaging a conference-high 23.3 points per game for the Zips, who are an even 3-3 to start the 2023-24 campaign. In those six games, Bass has five 20+ point performances, including a pair of 33-point games against Tennessee State on Dec. 3 and against Oakland in the season-opener back on Nov. 6. But Bass does not just score, she can also rebound, as she is also the MAC’s individual leader in rebounds per game (11.7 per game).

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (courtesy of getsomemaction.com):
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 Women’s Basketball

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