CLEVELAND -- The Western Michigan women's basketball team opens the 2025 Mid-American Conference Tournament on Wednesday at 11 a.m. against top-seeded Ball State at Rocket Arena.

The game can be seen live on ESPN+ and heard live on the Bronco Media Network.

HOW WE GOT HERE
Western Michigan clinched its trip to Cleveland after finishing in eight place in the MAC standings. WMU defeated Ohio 75-56 in its second to last game of the regular season to lock in its spot. The Broncos were 8-10 in conference play.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Ball State won the MAC with a 16-2 record. Its only two losses came at Toledo and at home against Kent State in back-to-back games. After the losses, they finished off the season with four straight wins at Central Michigan, at Western Michigan, at home against Buffalo and at home against Ohio. 

THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM?
This is the third meeting between the Broncos and the Cardinals.

The first meeting came back on Feb. 1, with BSU winning over the Broncos at home 61-51. The second meeting was on March 1. with the Cardinals winning 55-45.

In the two meetings, WMU has held Ball State to its lowest point total in conference play (55) and its third-lowest (61). In the series-opener, they also held the Cardinals to 36 percent shooting. 

This is the sixth meeting between Western Michigan and Ball State at the MAC Tournament, with BSU holding a 3-2 edge. The last came in 2018 when the Broncos upset the third-seeded Cardinals 65-54 in the Quarterfinals.

SPECIAL SPOT FOR SPITZLEY
Graduate student Hannah Spitzley has been named to the 2025 MAC All-Defensive Team. Spitzley has 63 steals on the season and has moved up to sixth all-time in career steals at WMU. She is now just the third Bronco in program history to earn a spot on the MAC All-Defensive Team, joining Katlyn Zarycki (2023-24) and Deja Wimby (2016-17, 2018-19).

REVERSING COURSE
Western Michigan has been one-and-done in its past two trips to the MAC Tournament and has lost three-straight games in Cleveland. Last season the eight-seeded Broncos fell to top-seeded Toledo 72-61. In 2022, WMU was the seven seed and fell to No. 2 Buffalo 63-49. The third loss came back in 2020 against Ohio in the Quarterfinals, 84-75, after WMU had defeated Bowling Green in the first round to earn the trip to Cleveland. 

WMU is 26-33 all-time in the MAC Tournament.