Long Beach State
Mustangs Travel to Face Second Place Long Beach State Saturday
1/23/2025 4:52:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — With a week between games to rest and prepare, Cal Poly women’s basketball will hit the road Saturday to take on second place Long Beach State inside the Walter Pyramid.
The Mustangs (8-10, 3-5 Big West) will tip off against the Beach (10-6, 6-1 Big West) at 1 p.m. Fans can watch the game on ESPN+ and Spectrum Sports as well as follow live stats on GoPoly.com. Links to both of those can be found on the schedule page.
Cal Poly is coming off a heartbreaking 59-57 loss last Saturday to UC Irvine. The Anteaters won the game on an and-one layup with 1.3 seconds remaining that put them ahead by two. Senior guard Annika Shah and sophomore forward Mary Carter combined for 35 points while redshirt sophomore forward Sierra Lichtie collected a career-high 15 rebounds.
The Mustangs’ defense has been strong all season. They currently rank 15th in the country in defending the three, with opponents only shooting 25 percent from beyond the arc against them. In all eight of Cal Poly’s win this year, they have held opponents under 60 points. The Mustangs are also one of the best three point shooting teams in the Big West, ranking second in the conference in three point percentage.
Shah has been leading the offense all season. Having gone for over 20 points four times this season, she has raised her average to 14.4 points per game which ranks fourth in the Big West. She leads the Big West and ranks 10th in the nation in threes made per game at 3.0. Shah has been very efficient with her scoring as she ranks second in the Big West in three point percentage and fourth in field goal percentage. In addition to scoring, she also leads the team in assists, threes made, and free throw percentage. Shah has scored in double digits in 13 of the 18 games so far this season.
Sophomore forward Mary Carter, a Big West All-Freshman Team honoree last season, has taken a big leap forward this season. Carter is second on the team in scoring at 12.2 points per game which ranks eighth in the Big West. She is second on the team and ranks seventh in the Big West in three point percentage at 38 percent and is third in field goal percentage. Carter also leads the team in blocks and is second in rebounding. She has recorded 14 double digit scoring games and has two doubles-doubles so far this season.
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 LONG BEACH STATE: This will be the first meeting of the season between Cal Poly and Long Beach State. Long Beach leads the all-time series 51-30. However, last season Cal Poly swept the season series.
SHAH SCORES: Senior guard Annika Shah comes into Saturday’s game with 992 career points scored, needing just eight more points 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 92.7 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 third season as head coach, Shanele Stires has accumulated a record of 35-41 overall and 23-24 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 138-87 (.619) in games played at Mott Athletics Center.
LOOKING AHEAD: Next week, Cal Poly hosts Cal State Bakersfield Thursday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center.
