Cal Poly Women’s Basketball Opens Practice for 2025-26 Season Monday
9/21/2025 5:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Returning seven players, five letterwinners, from last year’s team, and welcoming nine newcomers, the Cal Poly women’s basketball program officially opens practice for the 2025-26 season Monday afternoon.
Under the direction of fourth-year head coach Shanele Stires, Cal Poly enjoys 42 days of preparation ahead of the program’s Monday, Nov. 3 season opener at home against UC Santa Cruz. In between, the Mustangs host NAIA Simpson for a Thursday, Oct. 30 exhibition.
Cal Poly’s roster will look significantly different in 2025-26 than last year. The Mustangs lost each of their top six scorers from last season, including All-Conference honorees Annika Shah and Mary Carter that helped them reach the Quarterfinals of the Big West Championship.
Cal Poly’s top returning scorers include sophomores Nora Perez, Gillian Bears, Gabby Robinson, Ana Moleon Hidalgo, and Alana Goosby. They also will get back two players who missed either all or the majority of last season in guard Jordan Billing and forward Avery Knapp.
The newcomers consist of six freshmen and three transfers. The transfers consist of redshirt junior guard Madison Butcher from Sacramento State - who played in 33 games last year for the Hornets and averaged nearly five points per game, sophomore guard Vanessa McManus from Division II Saint Leo University – who averaged 13.1 points per game last year as a freshman, and junior guard Arissa Garcia from Murray State Junior College in Texas – who averaged 10.1 points per game there last season.
Stires’ freshman class this year includes guard Ella Skrzyniarz (Folsom, Calif.), guard Katie Peiffer (Austin, Texas), forward Dulci Vail (Lafayette, Calif.), guard Maya Sharvit (Rosh-Haayin, Israel), forward Charish Thompson (Sachse, Texas), and guard Vivian Franklin (Dallas, Texas).
