Cal Poly to Host Holiday Beach Classic, No Charge for Admission
11/26/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Opening Tip: Cal Poly women's basketball team will host the Holiday Beach Classic on Nov. 29-30.
The four-game tournament will open with the University of San Francisco playing UC Davis at 5 pm. The game will be followed by Cal Poly hosting Akron at 7 pm. Saturday's action will see UC Davis facing Akron at 5 pm with Cal Poly playing San Francisco at 7 pm. No Admission will be charged for the tournament.
Cal Poly enters the tournament 2-4 while Akron 3-2. USF enters the tournament 1-3 while UC Davis is currently 0-3 and will host San Jose State on Tuesday, Jan. 26.
Cal Poly is coming off a three-game week defeating New Mexico State, 72-64 on Monday, defeating Nevada, 82-57 and falling to Saint Mary's on the road, 77-69.
This Week: The Mustangs host the 2013 Holiday Beach Classic this week with Akron, Univ. of San Francisco and UC Davis coming to town.
Live Stats/Audio: Dave Grant will call the play-by-play on GoPoly.com... The pregame show will air at 6:40. Live stats will also be available at GoPoly.com.
2013 Holiday Beach Classic Tournament Schedule:
Friday, November 29 San Francisco vs UC Davis* 5 pm
Akron vs Cal Poly* 7 pm
Saturday, November 30 UC Davis vs Akron* 5 pm
San Francisco vs Cal Poly 7 pm
What's coming up: Following the Beach Classic, Cal Poly will remain at home and host CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 7 at 5 pm. Cal Poly will then hit the road for a series of five road games capped by a trip to Hawai'i (Jan. 9) and the start of the Big West Conference season. The road trip will open with a trip to Pepperdine (Dec. 16) then a trip to Oregon to play Portland (Dec. 18) and the Ducks (Dec. 20). The last game of the 2013 year will be on Jan. 28 when the team travels to UCLA for a game on Dec. 28.
A Quick Look at the Teams:
CP Akron USF
Record: 2-4 3-2 1-3
Conference Record
Points PG 69.8 89.6 77.5
Opp. Points PG 75.2 76.0 83.0
Rebounds PG 40.8 46.6 45.0
Shooting % 39.0 46.3 38.7
3-Point % 30.3 33.0 34.3
FT % 61.9 74.1 69.1
Steals PG 6.7 5.8 8.3
Assists PG 14.7 21.2 10.8
Blocks PG 3.8 2.2 3.3
Turnovers PG 15.2 18.6 16.3
Akron: The Zips enter the tournament with a 3-2 overall record after defeating Florida Atlantic (98-69), Tennessee Tech (118-71) and Canisius (72-56). Losses have come on the road against Dayton (94-80) and Wright State (90-80). Akron has a pair of players averaging better then 20 points a game led by Rachel Tecca (28.2). Hanna Luburgh adds 26.2 points per game. Akron's next leading scorer is Carly Young who scores 9.4 points per game. Tecca is also the teams top rebounder with 10.2 points per game with Luburgh adding 9.2 rebounds. Kacie Casselll dishes out the assists (8.0) while Tecca has tallied 12 steals this season. Akron defeated the Mustangs, 78-53) in 1995 in the only meeting between the teams.
Univ. of San Francisco : The Dons enter the game 1-3 overall having defeated Columbia, 83-69, on the road. Losses have come against Fordham (80-66), Long Beach State (85-82) and San Jose State (98-79). Four players score in double figures led by Taj Winston with 15.8 points per game. Rachel Howard adds 13.8 points with Zhane Dikes and Jamie Katuna scoring 12.8 and 12.0 points respectively. Claudia Price is the team's top rebounder with 6.3 boards per game with Winston and Paige Spietz adding 6.0 rebounds each. USF defeated Cal Poly, 71-67, last season. USF holds a 13-6 advantage over the Mustangs in the all-time series.
A Little About the Mustangs.....:
• The Mustangs earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament last season after winning the Big West Conference Tournament. Cal Poly posted a 21-11 overall record after falling to Penn State in the first round and a 13-5 mark in Big West Conference games. The Mustangs posted back-to-back Big West Regular Season Championships (2010-11 and 2011-12) with a 12-4 conference record in both seasons.
• The Mustangs won 21 games last season, tying the school record for most wins in a season. Cal Poly posted a Division I best 21 wins during the 2008-09 season when the team went 21-11. 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. In 2011-12 the team won 17 games, one off pervious year (18) that tied for second-best in school history since making the move to Division I in the 1994-95 season. During the 2009-10 season, head coach Faith Mimnaugh's squad recorded 18 wins...
• The Mustangs have claimed the last four Big West Conference Player of the year awards with Molly Schlemer winning this past season, Kristina Santiago winning the award twice (2011-12 and 2009-10) and Rachel Clancy winning in 2010-11.
• The Mustangs have advanced to the postseason the last three seasons, twice in the WNIT. In 2011 the Mustangs hosted California and lost 74-60 while in 2012, Cal Poly traveled to Seattle and lost to Washington, 90-71.
• Cal Poly head coach Faith Mimnaugh picked up her 200 career win at Cal Poly with the team's 72-63 win at Nevada on Dec. 2, 2012. She is already has the most wins as a coach in program history, amassing 216 wins to this point in 16 seasons.
Season Head Coach
W -L Pct.
1979-86 Marilyn McNeil 98-103 .488
1997- -- Faith Mimnaugh 218-249 .467
1976-79 Mary Stallard 33-41 .446
1986-96 Jill Orrock 103-132 .438
1974-76 Sharon Chatman 7-28 .200
1995-97 Karen Booker 9-44 .170
Oh What a Night...: Senior Molly Schlemer had one of those night's in the win over New Mexico State.. Schlemer tied her career-highs in both scoring and rebounding with 28 points and 17 rebounds... Her points came when she connected on 13 of 21 shots from the floor...
Schlemer's Doulble-Doubles...: In three of the six games this season, senior Molly Schlemer has recorded double-doubles... Harvard, Stanford and New Mexico State... for the season she has averaged 15.7 points and 11.3 rebounds... Against Harvard she put up 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds... and against Stanford she scored 12 points with 12 boards...and New Mexico State it was 28 points and 17 rebounds.
Big West Player of the Week: Cal Poly senior Molly Schlemer (Santa Maria, Calif./Righetti HS) garnered Big West Women's Basketball Player of the Week recognition as she averaged 17.3 points and 11.3 rebounds to help the Mustangs win two out of three games this past week Schlemer played a pivotal role in stopping a season-opening three-game slide, tying her career bests of 28 points and 17 rebounds in a 72-64 win against New Mexico State. She knocked down 13 of 21 shots from the field. Schlemer also collected her third double-double in four games. The 6-5 senior contributed 15 points and nine rebounds when she made seven of 14 shots from the floor in Cal Poly's 82-57 blowout win over Nevada. She finished the week with nine points, eight rebounds and a steal as the Mustangs lost, 77-69, at Saint Mary's. Schlemer shot 54.5 (24 of 44) percent from the field for the week.
A Block or Two.... : Redshirt freshman, Maddison Allen, averages 5.5 points and 7.0 rebounds... but she has tallied eight blocks in the six games, but seven have come in the last two... Against Nevada she scored eight points with 10 rebounds and four blocks.. On the road against Saint Mary's she scored 10 points with seven rebounds and three blocks....
The Jonae Show....: Senior Jonae Ervin has picked up where she left off last season with 13.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game... In the win over New Mexico State she tallied 11 points, five rebounds and six assists and against Nevada she scored eight points, grabbed eight rebounds with nine assists...
The Big Three: Right now it is the big three and the team is looking for more.... Molly Schlemer leads the team with 15.7 points per game and is followed by Ariana Elegado with 15.5 with Jonae Ervin adding 13.8 points per game.... but after those three it falls off to Kristen Ale scoring 6.7 points per game.....
On the Positive Side: Rebounding is up to 40.8 boards per game and assists are up to 14.7 per game.. while turnovers are down to 15.2 per game...
Stepping up...: Junior Kristen Ale stepped up her game against Saint Mary's when she scored 12 points when she connected on three of four from long range and three of four from the line.... She had this line in just 11 minutes of play...
Stepping up II....: Sophomore Beth Balbierz scored nine points with eight rebounds against Saint Mary's...
Ervin vs. Stanford... : Senior Jonae Ervin had an all-around solid game in the loss to No. 5 Stanford... Ervin scored a team-high 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists....
On the Boards...: Redshirt freshman Maddie Allen has played big on the boards in the six games this season.. Against New Mexico State she had her first double figure game with 10 rebounds and backed it up with 10 against Nevada... for the season she is averaging 7.0 boards per game and has grabbed a total of 42 rebounds... 18 coming at the offensive end of the court...
Jonae Ervin Earns All-Tournament: Senior Jonae Ervin earned all-tournament honors at the Maggie Dixon Classic when she scored 19 and 23 against Duquesne and Harvard respectively. In the two games she shot 45 percent from the floor and made four of seven from long range. She added 4.5 steals and 3.5 assists per game... She averaged 38 minutes a game.
Preseason Big West Conference Media Poll
Media Poll Results
1. Cal Poly (17) 177
2. Hawai'i (3) 159
3. Cal State Northridge 121
4. Long Beach State 120
5. UC Santa Barbara 100
6. UC Davis 72
7. Cal State Fullerton 59
8. UC Irvine 54
9. UC Riverside 38
( ) First-place votes
Five Sign NLI's with Cal Poly Women's Basketball:
The five players to sign NLI's include Geralynn and Geraldynn Leaupepe (Camarillo, CA), Zonyia Cormier (Sacramento, CA), Nicole Fausey (Snohomish, WA) and Emily Anderson (Clovis, CA).
Geralynn Leaupepe 5-9 Guard Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS
Helped lead Camarillo High School as a junior to a 20-10 record when she averaged 16.7 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game as the team captured the Pacific View League title. She was named to the CIF All-Southern Section Division 2A Team last season while earning First-Team All-Ventura County and first-team all-league. She was named the Pacific View Co-Player of the Year and team Co-MVP.
Geraldynn Leaupepe 5-9 Guard Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS
Helped lead Camarillo High School to a 20-10 record as a junior. She averaged 17.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.9 steals, 3.0 assists and 2.0 blocks per game last season. She set the program's single season record with 311 rebounds. She was named CIF All-Southern Section Division 2A Team and Ventura County Player of the Year. She was the Pacific View Co-Player of the Year and the team's Co-MVP with her sister. She was also named first-team all-county and first-team all-league. The twins played for club basketball for Cal Sparks. Both Leaupepe sisters have also competed in track and field for the Scorpions. At the 2012 CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, Geralynn was 10th in the shot put (38 feet, 11 inches), while Geraldynn finished in 12th place in the discus (122-6).
Zonyia Cormier 5-6 Point Guard Sacramento, Calif./Sacramento HS
Led Sacramento High School to a 27-5 record last season and the CIF Division II Section Championship. She averaged 7.9 points, 2.6 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 2.8 steals as a junior. She was named Sacramento All-Metro Honorable Mention. Zonyia played club basketball for Cal Sparks NorCal.
Nicole Fausey 6-4 Center Snohomish, WA/Glacier Peak HS
Led Glacier Peak High School to an 18-6 record and the Wesco 3A South Championship. Finished seventh in the state playoffs when she averaged 9.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Named All-Wesco 3A First-Team and holds the record at Glacier Peak HS record for blocks in a season. Selected to play in the 2013 Washington/North Idaho All-State Game. She is a member of both the National Honor Society and the National Spanish Honor Society. Nicole played club for Way to Win.
Emily Anderson 6-0 Forward Clovis, Calif./Clovis West HS
Led Clovis West High School to a 23-6 record as a junior, winning the league championship and CIF Central Section Championship. She averaged 15.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game while converting 83 percent of her shots at the line. She was named Second-Team All-State Division I, Frist-Team All-Section and was the TRAC League Player of the Year. She was also named to the Fresno Bee All-Area First-Team. She played club for Cal Swish.
