UCSB
Mustangs Face Rival UCSB Wednesday in Opening Round of Big West Championships
3/11/2025 5:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball
HENDERSON, Nev. – Cal Poly women’s basketball will begin its journey to try to win a Big West title Wednesday when it opens the Big West Championships against rival UC Santa Barbara in the first round.
Tip time against the No. 5 seed Gauchos is set for 12 p.m. from Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev. Fans can watch the games on ESPN+ as well as listen to it on ESPN Radio 1280AM and GoPoly.com. Fans can also follow live stats on GoPoly.com. Links to all of those can be found on the schedule page.
The winner of Wednesday's first round game will move on to face UC San Diego in the Quarterfinals Thursday at 12 p.m.
Defense has been the calling card all season for the Mustangs. They currently rank second in the country in defending the three, with opponents only shooting 25.8 percent from beyond the arc against them. In 11 of Cal Poly’s 13 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 six times this season, she has raised her average to 13.4 points per game which ranks sixth in the Big West. She leads the Big West and ranks 21st in the nation in threes made per game at 2.6. Shah has been very efficient with her scoring as she ranks second in the Big West in three point percentage and sixth in field goal percentage. In addition to scoring, she also leads the team in assists, threes made, and free throw percentage. Shah scored in double digits 18 times during the regular 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 13.1 points per game which ranks seventh in the Big West. She is second in the Big West in field goal percentage at 43 percent. Carter also leads the team in blocks (eighth in the Big West) and is second in rebounding. She has recorded 22 double digit scoring games and has three 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 eight newcomers, seven 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 UCSB: UCSB leads the Blue-Green rivalry all-time series 62-30. However, Cal Poly has won three of the last five meetings. That included the first meeting earlier this season which saw graduate guard Ashley Hiraki winning the game with a last second and-one layup to give Cal Poly a 51-50 win on the road Jan. 11. The Mustangs split the season series with the Gauchos this season.
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 Wednesday’s game at 1,134 which ranks eighth most in program history. 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.
BOURLAND BOARDS: Two weeks ago against UC Riverside, senior Sydney Bourland reached 500 rebounds for her career which ranks in the top 20 in program history. She also ranks 20th in program history in career steals.
TURN AROUND: In her third season as head coach, Shanele Stires has accumulated a record of 40-49 overall and 28-29 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.
