8-8 (3-1BWC)
CSUN
12-6 (2-2BWC)
Crowd of 2,047 Watches Cal Poly Earn 63-54 Big West Win Over CSUN
1/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — In front of the second-most fans in program history at Mott Athletics Center, the Cal Poly women's basketball team earned a 63-54 win over CSUN on Saturday evening.
A crowd of 2,047 was on hand, trailing only the attendance figure of 2,552 from March 5, 2011 (against UC Santa Barbara).
The game was also a rematch of last year's Big West Tournament Championship Game (a 73-58 victory for the Matadors).
The Mustangs moved to 3-1 in conference play with a stingy defensive effort, creating a 28-17 advantage in points off of turnovers. It was the third-fewest points they've given up through 16 games (now 8-8 overall).
On the court for all but a minute, senior guard Ariana Elegado led Cal Poly with a game-high 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting, along with five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
She gave her team its largest lead of the day (29-15) on a jumper 6:13 before halftime.
The Matadors fought back to take a 38-34 lead six-and-a-half minutes into the second half, but the Mustangs then went on a 15-0 run — their second-longest unanswered spree of the whole season — to go up 49-38 at the 8:24 mark.
Cal Poly made 16 of 20 free throws on the day, including a career-best 5-of-6 game from senior forward Taryn Garza.
Kristen Ale added 10 points, also sinking 5 of 6 free throws, and grabbed six boards.
The Mustangs will now visit Cal State Fullerton (8-7, 2-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday before traveling to face UC Riverside (10-7, 1-2) for a 5 p.m. tip-off on Saturday.
