After a dominating win against Simpson University, Cal Poly Women’s Basketball took that momentum into their regular season opener, beating UC Santa Cruz with a score of 87-27.
The Mustangs came out strong in the first quarter with a 15-0 run, holding UCSC scoreless until 3:52 minutes left in the quarter.
Defensively, the Mustangs went with a full-court press all game, forcing 38 turnovers on the Banana Slugs and scoring 46 points off of them.
“Any time your defense can convert or create turnovers that lead to easy buckets that just jumpstarts things for a young team like ours,” head coach Shanele Stires said.
While the defense was working in the Mustangs favor, their offense was looking off compared to their performance against Simpson University where they made it into triple digits.
Despite the offensive struggle, the Mustangs held a 25-6 lead after the first half with sophomore guard Vanessa McManus making it into double digits with 10 points scored.
At halftime, Stires tried out a new defensive scheme that paid off for the Mustangs defensively.
“I challenged them with some extended zone pressure and I thought it gave us a different look than in the first half and we’ve never really practiced it before,” Stires said. “I think the girls did a really good job of executing it considering we hadn’t really worked on it.
Sophomore forward Nora Perez and McManus were all over the stat sheet, racking up eight rebounds each and accounting for almost half of the team’s points with a combined 38.
In the third quarter surge, they went a combined 5-for-5 on field goals, helping push the Mustangs field goal percentage to 60.9%.
“We’re just going hard,” Perez said. “Fighting for every ball and looking for your teammates.”
McMancus transferred from Saint Leo University, where she averaged 13.1 points per game last season. Her performance translated well into Mott Athletics Center as she led the team with 24 points and made one of the team’s two three-pointers.
“We’re a great team, we have great players and coaches and we have to keep this up,” McMancus said.
The Mustangs have a tough game ahead as they take on Stanford University at Maples Pavilion on Nov. 9 at 1 p.m.