Cal Poly Takes Three Game Win Streak to UC Davis Saturday

Saturday, February 25

Davis, CA

2 P.M.

UC Davis

Photo by: Owen Main | Cal Poly Athletics

Cal Poly Takes Three Game Win Streak to UC Davis Saturday

2/23/2023 1:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly women's basketball is rolling right now. For the first time in more than two years, the team is on a three game win streak and playing some of its best basketball of the season at the right time.

Currently in a race to be in the top six of the Big West standings, the Mustangs will take their win streak to UC Davis Saturday for a pivotal game.

Tip time between the Mustangs (9-15, 6-10 BW) and Aggies (13-12, 9-6 BW) is set for 2 p.m. with the game streamed live on ESPN+. Links to that as well as live stats to follow can be found on the schedule page.

Saturday will be a big game for Cal Poly In its quest to be in the top six of the Big West standings to earn a first round bye in the upcoming Big West Championships. After beating Cal State Fullerton at home this past Saturday, the Mustangs moved into a tie for sixth with the Titans. Cal State Fullerton currently owns the tiebreaker over the Mustangs at the moment by having a win this season over second place UC Irvine.

Last week, Cal Poly picked up a 52-41 road win over CSU Bakersfield before beating the Titans at home 54-48.

Graduate guard Oumou Toure had a career game against the Titans, finishing with a career-high 23 points to go along with eight rebounds and three steals. In conference games, she is fourth in the Big West in offensive rebounds per game at 2.2. She's also led the team and is 13th in the Big West in scoring during conference play at 12.0 ppg.

Tough defense continues to be the staple for the Mustangs this season. In eight of the nine wins this year, Cal Poly has held its opponents to 53 points or less.

First year head coach Shanele Stires has already guided the Mustangs to tripling their win total from last season and have done so despite dealing with several injuries all season, including being down to as few as nine available players for multiple games.

Sophomore guard Annika Shah continues to lead the team in scoring at 10.1 points per game and assists at 3.0 per game, which is tied for seventh in the Big West. She also leads the Big West in assist to turnover ratio at 2.0. Shah has two blocks for the season and, at 5'3, is the second shortest player in Division I to record a block this year. Only Oklahoma's Nevaeh Tot, who is 5'2, is shorter who has a block.

Over the last eight games, the Mustangs are averaging 8.3 steals per game, above their season average of 6.8 and 3.2 blocks per game, above their season average of 2.2.

Crashing the glass, the Mustangs are second in the Big West in offensive rebounds per game at 11.3. Cal Poly has collected double-digit offensive rebounds in nine of the last 10 games

Following Saturday's game, the Mustangs are back home for the final home game of the season Thursday, March 2 at 6 p.m. against UC San Diego.

Scouting UC Davis: Winners of four of their last five games, the Aggies are currently in fifth place in the Big West standings. Guard Evanne Turner leads the Big West in scoring at 15.7 points per game, threes made per game at 2.9, and three point percentage at 38 percent. Fellow guard Tova Sabel who is second on the team in scoring at 10.2 ppg, has scored over 20 points in each of the last two games. Center Megan Jones is top ten in the Big West in rebounding, second in blocked shots while scoring seven points per game. As a team, they shoot and make the most threes in the conference. The Mustangs will be looking to snap a 14 game losing streak to the Aggies, with their last win happening in the 2014-15 season.

Willett Nearing Record Books: Senior guard Maddie Willett is just two points away from moving into a tie for 30th in career points at Cal Poly. She's currently at 740, with 30th at 742.

Shah Leads The Scoring: Sophomore guard Annika Shah leads the Mustangs in scoring this season at 10.5 points per game. That's an improvement of more than six points more than what she averaged as a freshman last season, the biggest jump of anyone on the team. She's scored in double figures 10 times, including over 20 twice and has led the team in scoring in eight of the 22 games so far.

Returning Mustangs: Despite losing two starters from last year, Cal Poly brings back plenty from last year's team. Two of the team's top three scorers are back this year.

Senior guard Maddie Willett returns after being second on the team in scoring last year at 8.9 ppg while leading the team in made threes and three point percentage.

Senior forward Julia Nielacna is also back after averaging 8.3 ppg last season while playing in 24 of 25 games and starting 11.

In addition to those two, there are five players back this season who played in at least 22 games last year.

New Stangs: Cal Poly added seven newcomers to this year's team, four freshmen and three Division I transfers. The three transfers consist of graduate student Nikola Kovacikova, graduate student Oumou Toure, and junior Taylor Wu.

Kovacikova comes to Cal Poly after previously playing at both Penn and Georgetown. Last season at Penn, she played in 19 games with eight starts. Off the court, she earned Penn's Norman J. Goldring Prize and George H. Frazier Prize which is given to a senior female student-athlete with the highest GPA. She spent her first two collegiate seasons at Georgetown. As a sophomore in 2019-20, she appeared in 27 games with 12 starts and was the Hoyas' third-leading scorer, averaging 7.9 ppg.

Toure comes to Cal Poly after having spent the last three years at Butler. She played her freshman season before missing the next two due to injury and the COVID pandemic. As a freshman in 2019-20, she was named to the Big East All-Freshman Team. That season, she appeared in 27 games, making 20 starts and ranked second on the team in scoring at 9.1 points per game while shooting 46 percent from the field to go along with 6.1 rebounds per game. She also led the Big East and ranked 45th in the NCAA in steals per game at 2.33.

Wu spent the last three seasons at California Baptist University where she played in 70 career games. She made her mark as a freshman in 2019-20, averaging 6.6 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 1.7 apg in 18.4 minutes per game. She broke the program's freshman single game scoring record after dropping 37 points against Ottawa (AZ) and in the same game broke the program record for threes made in a game with 10.

As a sophomore, she started 19 of 27 games, averaging 8.9 ppg, 1.7 apg, and 21.9 minutes per game. She scored in double figures 11 times including a season-high 15 against Pepperdine.