Life Pacific
Mustangs Return Home for Two Games This Week
11/18/2024 2:58:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After completing a three-game road trip, Cal Poly women’s basketball returns to Mott Athletics Center this week for a pair of home games.
The Mustangs (2-2) will host NAIA opponent Life Pacific (3-3) Tuesday at 6 p.m. They then face their third Big Sky opponent of the year in Idaho on Saturday at 1 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available for fans to follow. Links to both of those can be found on the schedule page.
Last week, Cal Poly split its two road games against Montana State and Montana. The Mustangs fell to the Bobcats on Tuesday 75-57 before bouncing back with a 65-55 win over Montana on Thursday. In the win over the Grizzlies, four players scored season-highs as the Mustangs hit nine threes in the game.
The Mustangs are coming off their best season in a decade in 2023-24. Last year, head coach Shanele Stires directed the team to a 17-14 overall record in her second season at the helm, finishing tied for third in the Big West regular season standings and went to the program’s first WNIT postseason tournament since 2014.
Cal Poly returns six letterwinners from that team, including three starters. They are headlined by senior guard Annika Shah, who earned Honorable Mention All-Big West honors last season after being second on the team in scoring and leading the team in three pointers made and three point percentage. She also set the program record last year for highest free throw percentage, shooting 94.4 percent.
Two starters also back are redshirt sophomore forward Sierra Lichtie, who was fourth on the team in scoring last year, and senior guard Sydney Bourland who was fifth on the team in scoring and led the team in minutes. They also return their top two scorers off the bench in sophomore forward Mary Carter who was named to the Big West All-Freshman team last year and was second on the team in threes made as well as senior guard Sidney Richards who averaged 6.2 points per game last year.
The Mustangs have nine newcomers for the second straight year, eight freshmen and one grad transfer. The transfer is Ashley Hiraki, who played four years at Santa Clara and averaged 6.1 points per game in 118 career games there.
MUSTANGS VERSUS LIFE PACIFIC: This will be the first ever meeting with NAIA program Life Pacific. They started sports at Life Pacific for the 2017-18 year. They have never had a winning season in five seasons of women’s basketball.
MUSTANGS VERSUS IDAHO: Cal Poly is 7-10 all-time against the Vandals. The Mustangs have won the last two meetings, the most recent being last season in Moscow with Cal Poly coming away with a 65-55 win.
SHAH SCORES: Senior guard Annika Shah comes the week with 710 career points scored, the most by any Mustang on the team. She will seek to become the 16th player in program history to hit the 1,000 career points milestone. She is also on track to become the program’s leader in career free throw percentage as she currently sits at 91.9 percent for her career. The current leader in that category is Dynn Leaupepe, who was 81.8 percent for her career.
TURN AROUND: In her first two seasons as head coach, Shanele Stires has accumulated a record of 27-32 overall and 20-19 in Big West play. She has improved Cal Poly win total in each year, taking a three win team in 2022 to 10 in 2023 and 17 last year.
HOME COOKIN’: Since 2008, Cal Poly is 136-83 (.621) in games played at Mott Athletics Center.
LOOKING AHEAD: Cal Poly goes back on the road next week for a contest against Stanford on Monday, Nov. 25. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.
