UC San Diego
Mustangs Host UC San Diego Thursday, Travel to Rival UCSB Saturday
1/8/2025 4:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Cal Poly women’s basketball continues Big West play this week with a pair of games, Thursday at home and Saturday on the road.
The Mustangs (6-8, 1-3 Big West) will host UC San Diego Thursday, Jan. 9 at 6 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center. Then on Saturday, the Mustangs head 90 minutes south to face rival UCSB at 4 p.m. Fans can watch both games on ESPN+ and follow live stats. Links to both of those can be found on the schedule page.
Cal Poly is looking to snap a two game losing skid and move up into a tight race in the middle of the Big West standings. Currently, UC Davis and Long Beach State are tied for first at 4-0. From there, everyone else has at least one loss and with 16 conference games still left to play, the Big West is wide open.
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 14.2 points per game which ranks fourth 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 14 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 11.9 points per game. She is second on the team and ranks sixth in the Big West in three point percentage at 38.8 percent. Carter also leads the team in blocks and is second in rebounding. Carter has also recorded 11 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 UC SAN DIEGO: This will be the 10th all-time meeting against UC San Diego. The Tritons hold a slight edge in the nine previous meetings, 5-4. However, Cal Poly won both games last season against the Tritons. This is the first year UC San Diego is eligible to win the Big West since entering the conference four years ago due to NCAA rules.
MUSTANGS VERSUS UCSB: UCSB leads the Blue-Green rivalry all-time series 61-29. However, Cal Poly has won two of the last three meetings. Last season, the teams split the season series with each team winning at home.
SHAH SCORES: Senior guard Annika Shah comes into Saturday’s game with 838 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 92.6 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 33-40 overall and 21-22 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 137-86 (.619) in games played at Mott Athletics Center.
LOOKING AHEAD: Next week, the Mustangs will travel up north to close out the regular season series with UC Davis. Tip against the Aggies in Davis is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
