Mustangs Head into Final Two Regular Season Games Looking to Finish at the Top

Thursday, March 7

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

6 P.M.

UC Irvine

Tickets

Mustangs Head into Final Two Regular Season Games Looking to Finish at the Top

3/6/2024 4:26:00 PM | Women's Basketball

WEEKLY NOTES (PDF)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — With one week left to in the regular season and just two games remaining before next week's Big West Championship tournament, Cal Poly women's basketball finds itself right in the thick of things at the top of the standings with two big home games coming up this week. The Mustangs (16-11, 12-6 BW) currently find themselves in third place in the Big West standings. This week, they will host second place UC Irvine Thursday at 6 p.m. for a crucial game that could help Cal Poly improve its seeding. The Anteaters sit at 14-4 in Big West play, two games ahead of the Mustangs. They will then host UC San Diego Saturday at 2 p.m. in the home and regular season finale. Saturday will also be senior day in which the program will honor its three seniors, Natalia Ackerman, Ania McNicholas, and Amanda Olinger, before the game. Both games will air live on ESPN+. Links to that as well as live stats can be found on the schedule page. Tickets to the games can be purchased at GoPoly.com/tickets. It has already been a very successful season for second year head coach Shanele Stires and crew. Their 16 wins to this point are the most since the 2017-18 team won 17 games. Cal Poly has also won six of its last eight games. Senior forward Natalia Ackerman continues to have a stellar season. This week, she earned her second Big West Player of the Week honor of the season after averaging 17 points, 11 rebounds and 4.5 blocks last week in two wins. For the season, she leads the Mustangs in scoring at 12.5 points per game which ranks ninth in the Big West. She also leads the team in block and Big West in blocks at 2.1 per game which is 26th in the nation and field goal percentage at 59 percent. In addition, she leads the team in rebounding at 8.6 per game which is second in the Big West. Meanwhile, junior guard Annika Shah also is having a very strong season. She is second on the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game which ranks 10th in the Big West. Shah is also the top free throw shooter in the Big West at 95 percent and is 60-63. It is on pace to break Cal Poly's single season free throw percentage record. One ot the top sharp shooters in the Big West, Shah ranks third in the conference in three point percentage at an 42 percent which ranks 21st in the nation. As a team in conference games, the Mustangs lead the Big West in field goal percentage, assists, rebounding margin and free throw percentage and are second in blocks, scoring, three-point 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. After Saturday's game, the Mustangs will shift their focus to next week's Big West Championship at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev. Cal Poly has already secured its spot, it's just a matter of what seed they will be.