Cal Poly Heads to Fullerton Thursday, Hosts First-Place Hawai’i Saturday

Thursday, January 25

Fullerton, CA

7 P.M.

Cal State Fullerton

Photo by: Tomas Gomez

Cal Poly Heads to Fullerton Thursday, Hosts First-Place Hawai’i Saturday

1/24/2024 4:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Currently in a two-way tie for third-place in the Big West standings, Cal Poly women's basketball faces a pair of big games this week. The Mustangs (9-8, 5-2 BW) will travel south to face Cal State Fullerton Thursday at 7 p.m. They then return home Saturday to host first-place and two-time defending Big West champs Hawai'i at 2 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center. Both games will be aired live on ESPN+. Links to that as well as live stats can be found on the schedule page. Last week, Cal Poly had a strong showing in its lone game of the week against Cal State Bakersfield, beating the Roadrunners 80-67. In that win, senior forward Natalia Ackerman had the best game of her collegiate career. She scored a career high 29 points on 11-13 shooting. She also grabbed 13 rebounds to secure her fifth double-double of the season. It was the highest scoring output by a Mustang since March 10, 2021. Cal Poly is currently 5-2 in the Big West standings, just one game back of first-place. They will now get ready to face a 3-4 Cal State Fullerton team and a 6-1 Hawai'i team this week. Ackerman and junior guard Annika Shah lead the Mustangs in scoring at 12.1 points per game which ranks 10th in the Big West. Ackerman also leads the team in rebounds at 8.2 per game which ranks third in the Big West. She tops the Big West in blocks at 2.1 per game which ranks 28th nationally and field goal percentage at 58 percent which also ranks 27th nationally. Shah meanwhile paces the team in threes made with 31 and is shooting 35.6 percent from beyond the arc which ranks eighth in the conference. As a team in conference games, the Mustangs are leading the conference in offensive rebounds at 13.1 per game. They are also third in blocks, fourth in scoring, fourth in scoring defense, and fourth in field goal percentage. The Mustangs have been doing this all with a very new and young team. There are nine newcomers to the team with just four returners. The four returners are Shah, Ackerman, redshirt freshman Sierra Lichtie, and junior guard Sydney Bourland. The nine newcomers consist of four Division I transfers and five true freshmen. Following Saturday's game against the Rainbow Wahine, Cal Poly will go back on the road next Thursday to face UC Irvine before heading up to UC Davis two days later.
SCOUTING CAL STATE FULLERTON: The Titans come into Thursday's game having lost four of their last six games and are 3-4 in Big West play. However, most recently they knocked off UC Santa Barbara 80-67. They are led in scoring by guard Gabi Vidmar, who is ninth in the Big West in scoring at 12.3 points per game. SCOUTING HAWAI'I: The Rainbow Wahine are coming off their second straight Big West title a season ago and are again currently at the top of the Big West standings at 6-1. They rank second in the Big West in scoring defense, allowing 55.7 points per game. Hawai'i brings a balanced scoring attack with five players averaging over seven points per game. Cal Poly is looking to end a four game losing skid to the Rainbow Wahine as the last win over them came in 2021.