Mustangs Head to Hawai’i Thursday in Battle for First Place

Thursday, February 15

Manoa, HI

9 P.M.

Hawai'i

Photo by: Tomas Gomez

Mustangs Head to Hawai’i Thursday in Battle for First Place

2/14/2024 3:57:00 PM | Women's Basketball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Just one game back of first in the Big West standings, Cal Poly women's basketball heads across the Pacific Thursday for a critical game against Hawai'i, who is currently tied for first place in the Big West standings. The Mustangs (13-9, 9-4 BW) will face the Rainbow Wahine (13-9, 10-3 BW) Thursday at 9 p.m. PT, 7 p.m. HT inside Stan Sheriff Center. The game will be aired live on ESPN+. A link to that as well as live stats can be found on the schedule page. Last week, Cal Poly continued to move up in the Big West standings after a 2-0 week at home in which they defeated CSUN and Long Beach State. In both games, Cal Poly came back from double digit deficits to win. Against CSUN, the Mustangs were down 10 in the second half before going on to win 75-68. Then two days later, Cal Poly found itself trailing by 21 in the second quarter before a strong second half propelled the Mustangs to an 84-76 victory. Senior forward Natalia Ackerman was a star in both games, notching double-doubles in both games which earned her first Big West Player of the Week award. For the week, she averaged 21 points and 11.5 rebounds on 59 percent shooting. Ackerman is second on the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game which ranks 10th in the Big West. She leads the Big West in field goal percentage (59 percent) and blocks (2.1 per game) which is 25th in the nation. Her 8.3 rebounds per game leads the team and ranks third in the Big West. Meanwhile, junior gurad Annika Shah leads the Mustangs in scoring at 12.8 points per game which ranks eighth in the Big West. She scored a career high 25 points last week in the win over CSUN. Shah also leads the Big West in free throw percentage at 98 percent and is 52-53 on the year which would lead the nation if she had a few more attempts. As a team in conference games, the Mustangs lead the Big West in scoring, assists, and blocks, are second in field goal percentage, three point percentage, and free throw 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 Thursday's game, the Mustangs will return to Mott Athletics Center next week to host Cal State Fullerton Thursday, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. SCOUTING HAWAI'I: The Rainbow Wahine are currently tied at the top of the Big West standings with UC Irvine at 10-3. They have won four of their last five games. Hawai'i has been strong playing at home this year, going 9-3 in those games. The Mustangs are looking to break a five-game losing streak to Hawai'i. The last road win over the Rainbow Wahine was back in 2018.