Despite a significant decrease in turnovers, Cal Poly Women’s Basketball’s losing streak was extended once again on Friday afternoon.
The 63-54 loss against blue-green rival UC Santa Barbara marked the Mustangs 11th loss in a row and sixth week without a win.
Throughout the season, the Mustangs have been plagued by turnovers. They are ranked last in the Big West for assist/turnover ratio by a large margin with a 0.48 ratio behind CSU Bakersfield who has a 0.59 ratio.
On Friday, they significantly reduced their giveaways against the Gauchos, putting up a season low of eight. Despite the cleaner play, Santa Barbara still outscored Cal Poly with 12 points off of the Mustangs turnovers compared to the Mustangs four points off of the Gauchos’ nine turnovers.
The Mustangs also put up a good offensive fight with an overall field goal percentage of 37%, only trailing the Gauchos by three percentage points.
Cal Poly put up their best field goal percentage in the fourth quarter at 46.2%. They diminished the gap to a three point deficit, but the Gauchos capitalized on the Mustang’s fouls, earning nine points off of free throws to help close out the game.
A solidifying factor in the Mustang’s loss was Santa Barbara’s dominance in fast break points. The Mustangs struggled with four while the Gauchos finished with a whopping 15.
Following the season trend, freshman forward Charish Thompson led the team offensively with 11 points and the highest individual field goal percentage at 62.5%. She was followed closely by junior guard Arissa Garcia who scored nine points.
Overall team scoring leader this season, sophomore guard Vaness McManus, captained the defense with five defensive rebounds followed by Thompson and sophomore forward Nora Perez who both grabbed four.
The Mustangs will attempt to break their victory drought against University of Hawai’i, defending their home court at 6 p.m. on Thursday.