Women's Hoop to Host Pacific and UC Davis
1/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
This Week: The Mustangs continue Big West Conference play with a pair of games at home this week when they host Pacific and UC Davis. On Thursday the Mustangs will play Pacific who enter the game with a 3-3 Big West record and post a 10-8 overall mark. On Saturday, Cal Poly will host UC Davis who enter the week 12-6 overall and 4-2. The Mustangs enter the week 3-3 in Big West games and 6-12 overall. Tip for the game with the Matadors is set for 7 pm while the game with the Aggies will start at 4 pm.
Live Stats/Audio: The game will be streamed live at Gopoly.com with Dave Grant calling the play by play. Live stats will be available for both games through GoPoly.com. Video will be available at BigWest.org.
Mustangs on ESPN3: Following the two home games this week, Cal Poly will play a single game at Central Coast rival, UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 2 pm. The game will be available on ESPN 3.
What's coming up: Following the UCSB game, Cal Poly will remain on the road and play a non-conference game at Cal State Bakersfield on Feb. 8 at 7 pm. The Mustangs will then return home to host Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, Feb. 11 for a 4 pm game.
A Quick Look at the Teams:
CP Pac UCD
Record: 6-12 10-8 12.6
BWC Record 3-3 3-3 4-2
Points PG 71.4 71.5 63.0
Opp. Points PG 70.1 69.2 61.4
Rebounds PG 39.4 40.8 32.8
Shooting % 41.8 40.7 38.0
3-Point % 33.2 33.0 29.8
FT % 72.8 67.8 69.3
Steals PG 8.3 11.4 10.5
Assists 14.6 14.6 14.1
Blocks PG 2.3 4.1 1.6
Pacific: The Tigers enter the game with a 10-8 overall record and post a 3-3 mark in Big West games. This past week, Pacific split games with a win over Seattle (81-79) in overtime and a loss at UC Davis (59-51). Erica McKenzie leads a trio of players scoring in double figures for the Tigers. McKenzie averages 12.5 points per game with Ashley Wakefield and Kendall Rodriguez adding 12.3 points each. Rodriguez leads the team with 7.8 rebounds per game.
History with the Tigers : Pacific holds at 25-20 advantage over the Mustangs in the all-time series with the Mustangs winning all three contests last season including a 66-49 win in the semi-finals of the Big West tournament.
Probable Starters for Pacific: Pts Reb.
10 Kendall Kenyon F 5.9 4.5
04 Kendall Rodriguez F 12.3 7.8
24 Gena Johnson G 9.0 4.1
22 Erica McKenzie G 12.5 3.3
11 Ashley Wakefield G 12.3 6.7
UC Davis: The Aggies enter the week with a 12-6 overall record and are 4-2 in conference games. UCD will play at UCSB on Thursday before coming to town to play the Mustangs. Kasey Reicks leads the team with 10.3 points per game with Samantha Meggison adding 10.1 points. Meggison is also the team's top rebounder with 4.7 boards per game.
History with the Aggies : UC Davis holds a 21-19 advantage over the Mustangs in the all-time series including taking two of three last season. The Aggies defeated the Mustangs, 66-49, in the Big West Championship game last season.
Probable Starters for UC Davis: Pts Reb.
32 Meggison, Samantha 10.1 4.7
25 Riecks, Kasey 10.3 2.9
23 Juric, Lauren 4.8 3.2
05 Stephens, Hannah 8.7 3.2
02 Asano, Hana 6.3 2.8
A Little About the Mustangs.....: • The Mustangs won their first-ever share of the Big West Conference regular season championship last season with a 12-4 Big West Conference record.
• The Mustangs won 18 games last season, tied for second-best in school history since making the move to Division I in the 1994-95 season. Cal Poly posted a Division I best 21 wins during the 2008-09 season when the team went 21-11. During the 2009-10 season, head coach Faith Mimnaugh's squad recorded 18 wins... Overall in women's basketball history (since 1974-75), the team posted a 21-12 record in the 1981-82 season and 18-11 in 1979-80 when the team was competing at the Division II level.
• Head coach Faith Mimnaugh won her second Big West Conference Coach of the Year this past season while winning co-coach of the year in 1999-2000...
• The Mustangs return the 2009-10 Big West player of the year, Kristina Santiago, after going down to an ACL injury the first game of last season and a redshirt season.
Around the NCAA.... : Senior Kristina Santiago name is all over the NCAA ranking summary.....
Points Per Game (300 ranked) Santiago 3rd 23.6
Rebounds Per Game (300 ranked) Santiago 21st 10.2
Blocked Shots Per Game (300 ranked) Santiago 195th 1.2
Field-Goal Percentage (300 ranked) Santiago 16th 55.5
Free-Throw Percentage (300 ranked) Santiago 162nd 76.8
Double Doubles (30 ranked) Santiago 17th 9
Others in the NCAA...:
Assist Turnover Ratio Jonae Ervin 3rd 2.85
Assists per Game Jonae Ervin 243rd 3.2
Rebounds Per Game (300 ranked) Griffin 271st 6.8
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage Burns 58th 36.3
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game Burns 98th 2.1
And Now.... : Looking down the line... Kristina Santiago is in line for points scored in her career... The record holder, Laura Buehning, scored 1,843 points in her career from 1979 to 1982....
Games Points
Buehning 90 1,843
Santiago 109 1,651
The chase 192 and counting
She has to average 17.5 points per game for the remainder of the 11 regular season to pass Buehning....
She is already or at least at the end of the season will be the school record holder for career shooting percentage... Entering the week her career numbers stood at .531.......
No. 3.... : Sophomore Jonae Ervin is ranked third this week in the nation in assist turnover ratio at 2.85... Ervin leads the team with 57 assists this year and has committed 20 turnovers... Monique Smalls from Texas Tech leads the nation with 3.77....
Cal Poly 28th.... : Cal Poly as a team is ranked 28th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio at .98 .... Connecticut leads the nation at 1.45....
Welcome Back... : Junior Brittany Woodard saw action against Cal State Northridge for the first time since the game against Pepperdine on Nov. 30. Woodard, a transfer from Nevada, has been sidelined with a stress fracture... For the first time since the WNIT basketball game against California, senior Abby Bloetscher took the court. She has missed all of the season up until this point recovering from an ACL injury.... Against UC Riverside she played 11 minutes off the bench and scored two points with three rebounds...
Santiago's Career Numbers:
Season G-GS FG-FGA -Pct. 3FG-Pct. FT-FTA-Pct. Off-Def.-Tot. Avg. Bl St. Pts.- Avg.
2007-08 31-10 84-169-497 0-0-.000 51-79-.646 62-85-147 4.7 20 27 219 7.1
2008-09 32-31 191-363-.526 0-3-.000 103-135-.763 82-89-171 5.3 32 54 485 15.2
2009-10 29-29 226-415-.545 1-4-.250 116-173-.671 81-164-245 8.4 24 70 569 19.6
2010-11 1-1 0-0-.000 0-0-.000 0-0-.000 0-1-1 1.0 0 0 0 0
2010-11 16-16 156-281-.555 3-9-.333 63-82-.768 54-109-163 10.2 19 32 378 23.6
Totals 109-87 657-1228-.531 4-16-.250 333-469-.710 279-448-727 6.6 95 183 1,651 15.1
Santiago Scores 44 in loss to SDSU: Senior Kristina Santiago scored 44 points, the most since 1982 when Laura Buehning scored 46. The forward was 16 of 23 from the floor and 11 of 14 from the line.... Her all-around game included four steals, two assists and a block.... She also added a team-high eight rebounds in the game...
Martin off the Bench... : Senior Christine Martin has come off the bench in 14 of the 18 games this season... She is averaging 8.6 points and 3.1 rebounds.... She is shooting 42 percent from the floor and has hit 37 percent from beyond the arch...
Missing in Action: Freshman Jashae Lee is out for the season while redshirt sophomore Nikol Allison is hoping to return after off-season surgery in Feb.....
Wins and Losses...:
Wins Losses
Record: 6 12
Points PG 73.3 70.4
Opp. Points PG 60.0 76.7
Rebounds PG 45.0 36.6
Shooting % 42.7 41.3
3-Point % 29.1 35.5
FT % 72.0 73.2
Steals PG 7.5 8.7
Assists 17.3 13.2
Blocks PG 1.8 2.5
Turnovers 12.3 16.0
Santiago Wins Second Big West Award this Season : Cal Poly women's basketball player, Kristina Santiago, was named the Big West Conference player of the week. For the senior it was her second award this season and the seventh of her career. Santiago opened the week with a 33-point, 11-rebound performance in the Mustangs' 73-72 loss to Loyola Marymount. She also notched four assists, two blocks and one steal to her total. Two days later against the Aztecs, the senior forward drained a career-high 44 points, hitting 16 of 23 from the floor while shooting 11 of 14 from the charity stripe. Her 44 points missed the school record, set in 1982, by just two points. Averaging 38.5 points and 9.5 boards per contest, Santiago led the team in both categories. She also shot .600 from the field and .800 from the free throw line.
Player of the Week.... Make it two in a Row...: The Cal Poly Mustangs made it two for two this week winning their second Big West Conference Play of the Week when senor Kristina Santiago won the honor one week after Jonae Ervin picked up her award. Santiago was selected as the Big West Player of the Week when she established career-highs in points and rebounds this past week. This is the second straight week Cal Poly has claimed the weekly honor with Jonae Ervin picking up the season's first award. In leading the Mustangs to an 82-66 win over San Francisco on Wednesday evening, the Santa Maria, Calif., set a new career-high when she drained 36 points and tied her career-best in rebounds with 15. Santiago shot .519 from the floor, converting 14-of-27, while making 7-of-9 from the charity stripe. Four days later in the team's home opener against the Fresno State Bulldogs, the 6-1 forward shattered her previous rebound mark with an impressive 23 boards to go along with 27 points, securing her second double-double of the week. She added three blocks and four steals to her nightly total. For the Week, Santiago averaged 31.5 points and 19.0 rebounds per contest, while firing .543 from the floor. She also notched 2.5 assists, 3.0 blocks and 2.0 steals per game. For the season the senior is averaging 27.2 points, 14.7 rebounds per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor.
Ervin was selected as the Big West Conference Player of the Week when she scored a career-high 33 points in the Mustangs' season-opener against Oregon. In the Mustangs 102-93 loss to Pac-12's Oregon Ducks, the sophomore point guard shot 10 of 13 (.846) from the floor, including a perfect 5 for 5 from three-point range. She made 6 of 10 from the free throw line for a total of 33 points, to lead all players. Ervin's previous career-high was 19 points at Pacific last season. Hailing from Brea, Calif., she also tied a career-best six rebounds while adding two assists to her total.
Preseason Media Poll
1. Cal Poly (11)........................................................200
2. UC Santa Barbara (11)........................................191
3. UC Davis (2)........................................................169
4. UC Riverside.......................................................120
5. Cal State Fullerton...............................................107
6. UC Irvine................................................................91
7. Cal State Northridge..............................................73
8. Pacific....................................................................66
9. Long Beach State..................................................63
Cal Poly at Long Beach State : (1-21-12) LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Long Beach State women's basketball team made its free throws down the stretch and defeated Cal Poly, 74-67, in a Big West Conference game in Long Beach on Saturday. With loss the Mustangs fall to 3-3 in conference games and 6-12 overall. LBSU improves to 9-11 overall and 4-3 in conference games. Senior Kristina Santiago led the Mustangs with her ninth double-double of the season when she scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Sophomore Jonae Ervin added 10 points while senior Christine Martin came off the bench to score 10. Long Beach State was led by Tipesa Moorer with 16 points while Jhakia McDonald scored 14 points. LBSU shot 51 percent from the floor and made nine of 20 from long range while Cal Poly shot 44 percent from the floor and made 25 percent from beyond the arch. Long Beach State held a 34-30 advantage in rebounds, but turned the ball over 24 times compare to 17 by the Mustangs. In the opening moments of the game, Cal Poly tied the game, 5-5, on a three pointer by Kristen Ale. But LBSU quickly regained control and the lead and held a 13-8 advantage at 13:52. The Mustangs cut the lead to one (17-16) when Ariana Elegado hit a jumper after Santiago picked the ball from Hallie Meneses and took the lead when Elegado hit a three giving the Mustangs a 19-17 lead (7:36). LBSU came right back and held a three point lead until Caroline Reeves connected on a layup (22-21) with 4:09 left in the half. The Mustangs held a 25-22 lead (3:10) on back to back buckets by Santiago, but a jumper by Moorer with six seconds left gave the 49ers a 30-29 lead at the break. Five minutes into the second half the Mustangs remained within one (44-43), but LBSU went on a 10-4 run (54-47) with 11:58 remaining in the game. With 9:40 on the clock the Mustangs took a 55-54 lead when Martin made a layup off a feed from Ervin. Long Beach State retook the lead (62-60) at 5:48 on a three by McDonald. Santiago made one of two free throws cutting the lead to three, 68-65, with 56 seconds left to play. With 23 seconds left in the game, Ervin made a layup to keep the Mustangs within four at 71-67. LBSU made its free throws down the stretch for a 74-67 win.
