Former Roncalli player Maddie Bischoff scored 9.8 points a game during Ball State’s 8-2 start to the season.
Submitted photo | Ball State Athletics
Maddie Bischoff played a then-career-high total of 14 minutes in the final game of Ball State’s 2021-22 women’s basketball season.
It was there, in a first-round NIT loss at Marquette, when possibility began morphing into reality.
Bischoff, a Greenwood resident and former Roncalli guard, produced 11 points and three rebounds — a performance that supplied her with the motivation necessary to continue improving her overall skill set during the offseason.
The results are obvious.
Now a full-time starter, Bischoff, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, had helped the Cardinals to an 8-2 record entering the Puerto Rico Classic, which tipped off Monday and concludes this afternoon with a contest against Richmond.
In terms of being comfortable with both her surroundings and role she’s expected to fill, Bischoff is in a far different place than at this point a year ago.
“My freshman season was definitely hard,” said Bischoff, who averaged six minutes of action and 3.1 points a game in her debut season. “I had to get used to it, but I had to accept my role and do what’s best for the team. I’m a lot more comfortable now.
“If I make a mistake, it’s fine.”
Bischoff’s 9.8 scoring average entering the week blended perfectly into an extremely balanced offense in which Ball State’s top three scorers produced between 10.4 and 12.3 points a contest.
The sophomore’s 28.3 minutes per outing ranked second on the squad, as did her 16 made 3-pointers.
BSU coach Brady Sallee, in his 11th season, understands the growth potential of a player in the months separating her first and second season of collegiate competition.
Sallee’s offseason to-do list for Bischoff was for her to work on her ball-handling, improve her overall strength and continue being a threat from behind the 3-point arc.
“Starting back with last year, it was kind of a typical freshman season where you’re playing behind kids with more experience,” said Sallee, who took a 191-134 record into the Puerto Rico trip. “But Maddie stuck with it. With the work she did in the weight room, she belongs on a Division I court.
“The one thing we knew about Maddie is she could get us some buckets. The cool thing about that game at Marquette is our two leading scorers were freshmen.”
Former Brownsburg point guard Ally Becki, a member of the Indiana All-Star squad with Bischoff in 2021, is the other half of the Cardinals’ young backcourt.
The two grew up playing travel ball against each other from elementary school on, and are now best friends.
Overall, four of the team’s top six scorers are sophomores, giving Sallee, Bischoff and everyone else associated with the program thoughts of some major accomplishments in the future.
Last season, the Cardinals defeated Northern Illinois and top-seeded Toledo to advance to the championship game of the Mid-American Conference tournament in Cleveland.
A 79-75 loss to Buffalo was enough for an NIT bid.
Ball State, which has only been to the NCAA tournament once (2008-09), wants more this time around.
“Our goal this year is to win the MAC,” Bischoff said. “Losing last year to Buffalo in the championship game motivated all of us.”
