Cal Poly Women’s Basketball won a hard-fought victory with a 68-55 win against California State Fullerton at the Titan Gym on Thursday, Jan. 25.
The Mustangs (10-8, 6-2 BW) did not carry off the momentum from their previous two games. They opened up at the start of the game with back-to-back turnovers. The Mustangs were held to 5-11 shooting in the first and finished the quarter trailing 12 to 19 against the Titans (7-11, 3-5 BW).
Cal Poly junior Annika Shah added 18 points to lead the Mustangs to their third consecutive victory.
Cal Poly redshirt freshman Sierra Lichtie stepped up as she scored 10 points on 4-4 shooting while snagging an additional nine rebounds.
The Mustangs started to watch their turnovers to begin the second half and started off the second quarter by getting defensive stops. This momentum led to the Mustangs going on a 14-2 run in the first six minutes of the quarter. The run was led by Shah, who had five of the 14 points and hit a three-pointer to give the Mustangs their first lead of the game.
Shah continues to give the Mustangs some much-needed scoring as she averages a team-high 12.1 (tied with senior Natalia Ackerman) points per game while shooting 38.3% from the field, 96.3% from the free throw line, and 35.6% from deep.
The Mustangs went into halftime with a 28-25 lead. Both teams opened up the second half to a sloppy start, with neither team scoring until there was 8:57 left. Although the Mustangs led throughout the whole third quarter, the Titans would still stay around, and the Mustangs only led by five going into the fourth.
However, the Mustangs were able to pull away as Cal Poly graduate student Ania McNicholas scored four of her seven points in the fourth, along with a few layups by Ackerman and Litchie, which helped the Mustangs a double-digit lead with five minutes left.
Although the Titans were down by more than 10 points, they continued to foul over the last minute of the game, resulting in a Mustangs win 68-55, with Annika Shah shooting 100% from the free throw line.
The Mustangs finished shooting 58.5% from the field which is a little less than 17% over their season average at 41.7%. They also managed to shoot 50% from the three-point line, which is 17% over their season average of 33.6%.
The Mustangs have shown some inconsistencies throughout the season, but they hope to use their last three wins to build some momentum as they move up in the Big West.
The Mustangs look to continue their winning streak as they face the Hawaii Rainbow Wāhine at the Mott Athletics Center on Saturday, Jan. 27, at 2 p.m.