# 2017–18 Ball State Cardinals women's basketball team

The 2017–18 Ball State Cardinals women's basketball team represented Ball State University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship season. The Cardinals, led by sixth year head coach Brady Sallee, played their home games at Worthen Arena as members of the West Division of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 25–7, 13–5 in MAC play to finish in second place in the West Division. They lost in the quarterfinals of the MAC women's tournament to Western Michigan. They received an automatic bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament, where they defeated Middle Tennessee in the first round before losing in the second round to Purdue.

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 1, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Illinois–Springfield | W 92–42 | | Worthen Arena (975) Muncie, IN |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 11, 2017* 1:00 pm | | at Cleveland State | W 76–64 | 1–0 | Wolstein Center (304) Cleveland, OH |
| November 13, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Missouri State | W 70–58 | 2–0 | Worthen Arena (1,040) Muncie, IN |
| November 15, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Lipscomb | W 84–46 | 3–0 | Worthen Arena (1,076) Muncie, IN |
| November 20, 2017* 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Vanderbilt | W 88–79 | 4–0 | Memorial Gymnasium (5,367) Nashville, TN |
| November 22, 2017* 1:00 pm | | at Tennessee State | W 85–65 | 5–0 | Gentry Complex (468) Nashville, TN |
| November 29, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Butler | W 87–75 | 6–0 | Worthen Arena (1,564) Muncie, IN |
| December 4, 2017* 7:00 pm | | at Purdue | W 66–60 | 7–0 | Mackey Arena (6,068) West Lafayette, IN |
| December 7, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Southeast Missouri State | W 69–56 | 8–0 | Worthen Arena (1,519) Muncie, IN |
| December 10, 2017* 2:00 pm, Sports Link | | Oakland City | W 126–55 | 9–0 | Worthen Arena (1,011) Muncie, IN |
| December 18, 2017* 11:00 am, ESPN3 | | Austin Peay | W 89–57 | 10–0 | Worthen Arena (3,077) Muncie, IN |
| December 21, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Western Kentucky | W 93–81 | 11–0 | Worthen Arena (1,435) Muncie, IN |
| MAC regular season ||||||
| December 30, 2017 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Central Michigan | L 65–69 | 11–1 (0–1) | Worthen Arena (1,513) Muncie, IN |
| January 3, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Miami (OH) | W 86–61 | 12–1 (1–1) | Worthen Arena (1,111) Muncie, IN |
| January 6, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Bowling Green | W 84–73 | 13–1 (2–1) | Stroh Center (1,478) Bowling Green, OH |
| January 10, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Akron | W 74–61 | 14–1 (3–1) | James A. Rhodes Arena Akron, OH |
| January 13, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Buffalo | L 80–84 | 14–2 (3–2) | Worthen Arena (1,568) Muncie, IN |
| January 17, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Toledo | L 66–72 | 14–3 (3–3) | Savage Arena (3,259) Toledo, OH |
| January 20, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Kent State | W 79–58 | 15–3 (4–3) | MAC Center (472) Kent, OH |
| January 24, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Bowling Green | W 82–41 | 16–3 (5–3) | Worthen Arena (1,077) Muncie, IN |
| January 27, 2018 2:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Northern Illinois | W 81–72 | 17–3 (6–3) | Worthen Arena (3,867) Muncie, IN |
| January 31, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Akron | W 97–65 | 18–3 (7–3) | Worthen Arena (1,205) Muncie, IN |
| February 3, 2018 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Ohio | L 76–80 | 18–4 (7–4) | Convocation Center (8,027) Athens, OH |
| February 7, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Eastern Michigan | W 91–85 | 19–4 (8–4) | Worthen Arena (1,398) Muncie, IN |
| February 10, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Western Michigan | W 81–71 | 20–4 (9–4) | University Arena Kalamazoo, MI |
| February 17, 2018 3:30 pm, ESPN3 | | at Northern Illinois | W 72–50 | 21–4 (10–4) | Convocation Center (794) DeKalb, IL |
| February 21, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Western Michigan | W 85–58 | 22–4 (11–4) | Worthen Arena (1,275) Muncie, IN |
| February 24, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Toledo | W 78–73 | 23–4 (12–4) | Worthen Arena (2,822) Muncie, IN |
| February 28, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Central Michigan | L 80–88 | 23–5 (12–5) | McGuirk Arena (2,132) Mount Pleasant, MI |
| March 3, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Eastern Michigan | W 88–63 | 24–5 (13–5) | Convocation Center (1,370) Ypsilanti, MI |
| MAC Tournament ||||||
| March 7, 2018 7:30 pm, ESPN3 | (3) | vs. (6) Western Michigan Quarterfinals | L 54–65 | 24–6 | Quicken Loans Arena (3,012) Cleveland, OH |
| WNIT ||||||
| March 14, 2018 7:00 pm | | Middle Tennessee First Round | W 69–60 | 25–6 | Worthen Arena (1,083) Muncie, IN |
| March 18, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Purdue Second Round | L 72–77 | 25–7 | Worthen Arena (1,307) Muncie, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings
Legend :
| | Increase in ranking |
| | Decrease in ranking |
| | Not ranked previous week |
| (RV) | Received Votes |