UC San Diego
Mustangs Hit the Road Looking to Climb Up Big West Standings This Week
2/19/2025 4:49:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Hitting the final stretch of the regular season, Cal Poly women’s basketball will play four of its final six games on the road starting with two this week in Southern California.
The Mustangs (11-13, 6-8 Big West) will head south to face UC San Diego Thursday at 7 p.m. and UC Riverside Saturday at 1 p.m. Fans can watch the games on ESPN+, with Saturday’s game also airing on Spectrum SportsNet, as well as follow live stats on GoPoly.com. Links to both of those can be found on the schedule page.
Cal Poly is looking to climb up the Big West standings as they are currently two games out of sixth place. The top eight teams from the regular season all go to Henderson, Nevada to compete in the Big West Championship in March.
The Mustangs’ defense has been strong all season. They currently rank second in the country in defending the three, with opponents only shooting 24.2 percent from beyond the arc against them. They also rank second in the Big West in forcing turnovers at 18.1 per game. In 10 of Cal Poly’s 11 wins this year, they have held opponents under 60 points.
Senior guard Annika Shah has been leading the offense all season. Having gone for over 20 points five times this season, she has raised her average to 14.3 points per game which ranks sixth in the Big West. She leads the Big West and ranks 14th in the nation in threes made per game at 2.8. Shah has been very efficient with her scoring as she ranks second in the Big West in three point percentage and fifth 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 16 of the 23 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 which ranks eighth in the Big West. She is second on the team and ranks 11th in the Big West in three point percentage at 35 percent and is second in the Big West in field goal percentage at 42 percent. Carter also leads the team in blocks (fifth in the Big West) and is second in rebounding. She has recorded 18 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 11th all-time meeting against UC San Diego with the series tied 5-5. Cal Poly has won the last three meetings, including a 61-56 win earlier this season. UC San Diego is currently in third in the Big West standings at 9-5.
MUSTANGS VERSUS UC RIVERSIDE: This will be the 84th all-time meeting with UC Riverside holding a slight edge all-time 42-41. Cal Poly will be looking to snap a four-game losing skid to the Highlanders. UC Riverside is currently two games ahead of Cal Poly in the standings for seventh place.
SHAH SCORES: During Cal Poly’s road game Jan. 25 at Long Beach State, senior guard Annika Shah became the 16th player in program history and first since 2018 to reach 1,000 career points scored for her career. Her career total coming into Thursday’s game at 1,074 which ranks tied for 10th most in program history and just two points behind ninth place. She is also on track to become the program’s leader in career free throw percentage as she currently sits at 93.1 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 37-45 overall and 25-27 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 140-89 (.620) in games played at Mott Athletics Center.
LOOKING AHEAD: Next week, Cal Poly will host rival UCSB Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. in Mott Athletics Center, the penultimate home game of the season.
