Ball State plays Northern Illinois after Towers' 29-point showing

Published Feb. 3, 2026 4:42 a.m. ET
Associated Press

Northern Illinois Huskies (4-17, 2-8 MAC) at Ball State Cardinals (17-5, 9-1 MAC)

Muncie, Indiana; Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Ball State hosts Northern Illinois after Tessa Towers scored 29 points in Ball State's 101-91 victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes.

The Cardinals are 7-2 in home games. Ball State averages 17.2 turnovers per game and is 6-0 when it wins the turnover battle.

The Huskies are 2-8 in conference matchups. Northern Illinois averages 16.7 turnovers per game and is 4-4 when committing fewer turnovers than opponents.

Ball State's average of 7.3 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.5 more made shots on average than the 6.8 per game Northern Illinois allows. Northern Illinois has shot at a 38.4% clip from the field this season, 1.0 percentage point higher than the 37.4% shooting opponents of Ball State have averaged.

The Cardinals and Huskies square off Wednesday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Bree Salenbien is scoring 15.3 points per game and averaging 8.0 rebounds for the Cardinals. Grace Kingery is averaging 3.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Emilie Sorensen averages 1.7 made 3-pointers per game for the Huskies, scoring 9.1 points while shooting 40.9% from beyond the arc. Nadechka Laccen is shooting 44.8% and averaging 11.3 points over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cardinals: 9-1, averaging 81.4 points, 36.4 rebounds, 19.3 assists, 5.8 steals and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 49.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.2 points per game.

Huskies: 2-8, averaging 56.4 points, 25.5 rebounds, 11.6 assists, 8.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 41.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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