UC Davis
Mustangs Start Big West Play Thursday Hosting UC Davis
12/4/2024 8:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — After a 10 day break between games, Cal Poly women’s basketball gears up to open Big West play this week.
The Mustangs (3-4) will host UC Davis (3-4) Thursday at 6 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center. The game 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.
In their lone game last week, Cal Poly fell on the road to Stanford, 81-45. Cal Poly held tight with the national powerhouse Cardinal in the first half, trailing by just eight points at the half. Sophomore forward Mary Carter and senior guard Annika Shah each scored 12 points apiece to lead the Mustangs.
Carter has scored in double figures in each of the Mustangs’ seven games this season. Shah has scored double digits in six of the seven games. Shah leads the team in scoring at 13.9 points per game while Carter is right behind her at 12.6 per game. Both are also top two on the team in three point shooting.
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 UC DAVIS: Last season, Cal Poly swept the regular season series over the Aggies for the first time since the 2014-15 season. UC Davis then beat the Mustangs in the first round of the Big West Championship. Overall, the Aggies lead the all-time series 41-25.
SHAH SCORES: Senior guard Annika Shah comes into the week with 736 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 92.2 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 30-36 overall and 20-19 in Big West play. She has improved Cal Poly’s 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 136-84 (.620) in games played at Mott Athletics Center.
LOOKING AHEAD: Cal Poly heads south Saturday for its first conference road game of the year as the Mustangs take on CSUN. Tip time is set for 2 p.m.
