SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — 'Mott Magic' continued for the Cal Poly women's basketball team Saturday against Cal State Fullerton as the Mustangs, who trailed by five heading into the fourth quarter, finished the game on a 6-0 run to pick up a huge victory over the Titans at home on Senior Day, 54-48 to win their third straight game.
Graduate guard Oumou Toure was a star on both ends of the floor for Cal Poly (9-15, 6-10 BW), scoring a career-high 23 points, going 13-16 from the free throw line, and also adding eight rebounds and three steals to help the Mustangs triple their win total from last season and have their first three game win streak in over two years.Oumou Toure (24) scored 13 of her career-high 23 points from the free throw line
Senior guard Maddie Willett finished with nine points for Cal Poly to move within two points of becoming 30th in program history in career scoring. Sophomore guard Sydney Bourland continued her strong rebounding ways as she collected a game-high 11 rebounds as well as seven points and a pair of steals.
As they've done all season, the Mustangs held their hat on defense Saturday, limiting the Titans to 35 percent shooting, including 26 percent in the second half, and just three made threes to a team that came into the game second in the Big West in three point shooting. They also held Cal State Fullerton without a made basket the final six minutes of the game.
The Mustangs opened the game holding Cal State Fullerton scoreless for the first three and a half minutes. Cal Poly got out to an 11-4 lead six minutes in before the Titans answered with seven straight points to tie it with just under two minutes left.
Leading by two heading into the second, the Mustangs scored the opening basket of the quarter to take an 18-13 lead. With Cal Poly ahead 21-15 with 8:30 left, Cal State Fullerton took its first lead of the game after going on a 14-2 over the next five minutes to take a 29-23 lead. Cal Poly responded by closing the first half scoring five straight points to trim the Titan lead down to one at halftime.
The Mustangs had to weather the storm in the third quarter, shooting just 1-11 from the field and scoring seven points as the Titans went into the fourth leading 40-35.
Trailing 44-39 with 6:33 left in the game, Cal Poly got the lead back after going on a 6-0 run over a three minute span. From there, the teams traded points for the next couple minutes to see the game tied 48-48 with 1:21 left.
Junior guard Taylor Wu converted a big time three-point play to put the Mustangs up 51-48 with 23 seconds left. The Titans came up empty on a three on their next possession as Cal Poly made its free throws at the end to clinch the victory.
The win moves Cal Poly into a tie with Cal State Fullerton for sixth place in the Big West standings, critical as the top six teams in the Big West receive a first round bye in the Big West Championships.
After the announcement that Cal Poly's road game at UC Irvine scheduled for Monday had been canceled, the Mustangs, who have three regular season games remaining, will be off until next Saturday, Feb. 25 when traveling to face UC Davis at 2 p.m.
