Mustangs Hit the Road For First Time Since December at CSUN, UCSB

Thursday, February 10

Northridge, CA

5 P.M.

CSUN

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Mustangs Hit the Road For First Time Since December at CSUN, UCSB

2/9/2022 1:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After playing its last six games at home, the Cal Poly women's basketball team will have its first road games since Dec. 30 when traveling to face CSUN and UCSB this week. The Mustangs (2-14, 1-6 BWC) will face the Matadors (7-12, 3-6 BWC) Thursday at 5 p.m. inside the Matadome before taking on the Gauchos (11-7, 5-4 BWC) Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Thunderdome. Both games will be available to watch via ESPN+. Last week, Cal Poly earned its first conference win of the season after a 61-52 victory over Cal State Fullerton to snap an 11 game losing streak. Then on Saturday, the Mustangs fell to first place Long Beach State 65-64 in double overtime. Against the Titans, four Mustangs scored in double figures led by junior Guard Maddie Willett's 15 points. Junior guard Maddie Vick finished with 12 points and a career-high nine assists. Cal Poly's strong defense helped the Mustangs pick up the win, holding Cal State Fullerton to under 30-percent shooting from the field. Against Long Beach State, Cal Poly led by as much as 14 in the third quarter. However, the Beach finished the fourth quarter on a 14-2 run over the final five minutes to force overtime. In the first overtime period, neither team was able to pull away as the two teams battled back-and-forth tied 56-56 heading into double overtime. In the second overtime, Graduate forward Kirsty Brown made a layup with eight seconds left to put Cal Poly ahead 64-63. On Long Beach State's next possession, the Beach's Kianna Hamilton-Fisher made a second-chance layup with 0.4 seconds left after Brown blocked Long Beach State's first shot attempt which proved to be the game-winner. Senior forward Hannah Scanlan led the Mustangs with her second double-double of the year with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Brown finished with a career-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and a pair of blocks. Freshman guard Annika Shah finished with career-highs of 11 points and five rebounds. Vick and Willett both played all 50 minutes while Brown played 44 and Scanlan played 43, career-highs for all four. Vick continues to lead Cal Poly in both scoring (10.4 ppg) and assists (4.1 per game). She also leads the Mustangs and is third in Big West in minutes per game at 36.3. She has played 35+ minutes in 11 games this year. Brown, who is closing in on the all-time program record for games played, leads the team blocks (1.19 per game) which ranks second in the Big West and rebounds (6.5 per game) which ranks eighth in the conference. As a team, Cal Poly ranks second in the Big West in both offensive rebounds per game (11.5) and defensive rebounds per game (28.6). They are also sixth in assists at 12.8 per game and seventh in field goal percentage defense, holding teams to 39-percent shooting from the field. CSUN heads in to Thursday's game in ninth place in the Big West standings. Last week, they beat UC San Diego 53-45 before falling to UC Irvine 65-52. In the first meeting of the season on Jan. 8, Cal Poly fell at home 54-45. The Matadors are led in scoring by senior forward Tess Amundsen's 12.3 ppg which ranks ninth in the conference. As a team, CSUN ranks second in the conference and 19th in the nation in steals (11.16 per game). Currently fifth in the Big West standings, UCSB comes into the week after splitting a pair of games last week. The Gauchos fell to UC Irvine 58-31 before beating UC San Diego 59-47. UCSB has been led this season by guard Danae Miller (11.7ppg) and forward Ila Lane (11.5ppg). Lane leads the Big West in rebounding (9.4 per game) and field goal percentage (55-percent). As a team, UCSB is second in the conference in scoring defense holding opponents to 58.4 ppg this season and fourth in scoring at 63.2 ppg. In the first matchup against the Gauchos earlier this season, Cal Poly fell at home 63-42. Brown Nearing Program Record: Kirsty Brown, a fifth-year player, needs to play in just 7 more games to become the Mustangs' program leader in career games played. The record is 124 and she currently sits at 118. Returning Mustangs: The Mustangs return a total of eight players from last season. Those include junior guard Maddie Willett who started 23 of 24 games last year and was third on the team in scoring at 7.8 points per game and had seven games in which she scored double figures. Graduate forward Kirsty Brown returns for her fifth season. Last year, she was fourth on the team in scoring 6.4 points per game, second in rebounding at 5.6 per game, and had three double-doubles. Junior guard Maddie Vick played in all 24 games last season and came off the bench to lead the team in assists per game at 2.8. She also ranked third in the Big West in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.6. New Stangs: Cal Poly will have plenty of youth on this year's team as they welcome six freshmen. The Mustangs also added two Division I transfers in redshirt freshman guard Sarah Dumitrescu from Ole Miss and junior forward Julia Nielacna from San Francisco. At USF, Nielacna was second on the team in scoring as a freshman in 2019-20. Last year, she averaged 8.0 points per game while shooting 44-percent from the field and 35-percent from three. As a freshman last season at Ole Miss, Dumitrescu averaged 4.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in six games before missing the rest of the season due to injury.