When junior guard Annika Shah sank a midrange jumper to keep Cal Poly ahead 64-60 with a little over two and a half minutes left in overtime, it looked like she had given the Mustangs a chance to close out a crucial road victory over UC Santa Barbara in the latest installment of the Blue-Green rivalry.
The Mustangs (7-7, 3-1 Big West) wouldn’t score a single point in the final minutes of overtime, while the Gauchos (9-5, 3-1 Big West) went on a 5-0 run to just edge out the Mustangs, 65-64 on Saturday, Jan. 6 at the Thunderdome.
After a few uneventful minutes to start the first quarter, the Cal Poly offense began to find their groove after senior forward Natalia Ackerman found some space at the top of the key for the easy pull-up jumper.
The Mustangs would shoot 57 percent from the field to end the quarter with a 21-17 lead.
It was a much different story for Cal Poly as they struggled to find the basket. The Mustangs shot just 11 percent through the first half of the second quarter and allowed a 9-0 run before a timeout put them back on track.
They finished the half out just trailing 37-35 with the help of a buzzer-beating layup from junior guard Diamond Richardson.
Coming out of the half, the Gauchos went up by as much as six points in the third quarter before the Mustangs clawed back to tie it up at 47 all to end the quarter.
Both Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara had chances for game winners towards the end of the fourth quarter but both came up empty to push the game into overtime, where the Gauchos would close it out to hand the Mustangs their first conference loss of the season.
Junior forward Sydney Bourland led the team in points and assists with 15 and five, respectively, while freshman forward Mary Carter recorded her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 boards.
The Mustangs will look to bounce back when they host UC Riverside on Thursday, Jan. 11 at Mott Athletics Center.
