Hawai'i
Mustangs Host Hawai’i Saturday Inside Mott Athletics Center
1/3/2025 4:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly will play its first home game of 2025 Saturday when welcoming the 2022 and 2023 Big West champions into Mott Athletics Center.
The Mustangs (6-7, 1-2 Big West) will host Hawai’i Saturday, Jan. 4 at 1 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center. Fans can watch the game on ESPN+ and follow live stats. Saturday’s game against Hawai’i will also air on Spectrum TV. Links to both of those can be found on the schedule page.
Cal Poly heads into the game 6-7 overall and 1-2 in Big West after splitting its first two conference games in early December. The five wins during non-conference play were the program’s most in a season since the 2017-18 season. They have won two of their last three games, taking down Seattle and Southern Utah to close out 2024.
Leading the scoring for Cal Poly this season has been senior guard Annika Shah. Having gone for over 20 points three times this season, she has raised her average to 14.9 points per game which ranks second in the Big West. Shah has been very efficient with her scoring as she ranks third in the Big West in field goal percentage and fourth in three point 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 11 of the 13 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 12.3 points per game. She leads the team and ranks second in the Big West in three point percentage at 43.6 percent. Carter also leads the team in blocks and is second in rebounding. Carter has also recorded 10 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 HAWAI’I: Hawai’i leads the all-time series against the Mustangs 17-11. The Rainbow Wahine have won the last six matchups with the last win for Cal Poly coming Feb. 5, 2021.
SHAH SCORES: Senior guard Annika Shah comes into Saturday’s game with 833 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 92.4 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 33-39 overall and 21-21 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 137-85 (.620) in games played at Mott Athletics Center.
LOOKING AHEAD: Next week, the Mustangs will host UC San Diego Thursday, Jan. 9 at 6 p.m. at Mott Athletics Center before heading on the road Saturday, Jan. 11 to face rival UC Santa Barbara. Both games will air on ESPN+.
