Senior guard Annika Shah drilled a three-pointer in the middle of the third quarter, giving Cal Poly Women’s Basketball a lead for the first time in their contest against CSU Bakersfield.
The shot proved to be a turning point in the team’s 51-42 win over CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, Jan. 30, inside Mott Athletics Center.
The Mustangs (10-10, 5-5 Big West) are now coming off of back-to-back wins after securing a win against Long Beach State on Saturday, Jan. 25. Despite the Roadrunners’ (1-19, 1-9 Big West) record, they still played scrappy basketball and competed with the Green and Gold until the final whistle.
Cal Poly missed having senior guard Sidney Richards on the court. She sat out of Thursday’s win with an injury. Several players stepped up to the plate and received extended playing time in place of Richards.
“I think we missed a lot of that like attacking and being able to get to the free throw line – that’s something that Sidney does really well,” sophomore center Mary Carter said. “So we’re excited to get her back and have that new aspect to our offense.”
With Richards missing time, senior forward Sydney Bourland found herself all over the court, finishing the game and tying Carter for the highest points scored with 12 apieces.
Bourland demonstrated her leadership on the court, broke the huddles and amped up her teammates. Bourland also recorded several rebounds and proved a valuable player in the win.
“I think that just as a player I try to just kind of do it all, like just be the player we can rely on defense and all that,” Bourland said.
Thursday’s match started with a slow, trailing start for the Mustangs as the offense remained stagnant.
Cal Poly did not score for the first 3:40 of the game until redshirt sophomore forward Sierra Litchie made a second-chance layup, leaving the Roadrunners with a four-point lead.
The Mustangs suffered from many blocked shots in the paint and ended the first quarter trailing behind the roadrunners 13-6.
Shah, Cal Poly’s leading scorer, didn’t score until 6:17 left in the second quarter.
The Mustangs also failed to record any three-pointers in the first half. It was an overall low-scoring start to the game, and the Roadrunners finished the first half with a 19-16 lead.
The Green and Gold only shot a 23% clip from the field in the first half.
Coming into the second half, Cal Poly hit the ground running.
“I think the second half we started to move the ball a lot better as a team and that really got me open, I had some really nice post feeds, Syd got a nice kick out to me, so I think just that movement really just helped me get open,” Carter said.
The Mustangs and Roadrunners went back and forth, but after Carter’s layup near the end of the third quarter, Cal Poly dominated the rest of the game en route to the win.
It was a tale of two halves as Cal Poly would shoot a much-improved 48% from the field in the second half.
Shah didn’t have her best game offensively, but plenty of her teammates stepped up in her place.
“We definitely pride ourselves on if it’s not her night, then somebody is going to back her up, and I think we did that as a team today,” Bourland said. “We all contributed in different ways that got us a win.”
The Mustangs have a quick turnaround and will be playing at home in Mott’s Athletic Center on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. against UC Riverside.