Cal Poly Women’s Basketball beat Whittier College, a Division III program, 61-33 on Thursday.
The Mustangs (2-0) hounded Whittier College (0-1) on defense. They got 17 steals through their full-court pressing and trapping. Guards Maddy Tauro and Mecca Alexander each got four steals, and Sumer Lee was right behind them with three.
“When your offense is struggling, you try to create it with your defense, and so you know we’ve got a couple kids that can really get after it on the ball,” Head Coach Shanele Stires said. “Maddy Tauro is excellent at that, and I thought that a big bulk of our offense tonight was creating turnovers and some transition opportunities.”
Tauro turned multiple steals into easy transition points, led the Mustangs with 5 assists, and finished second on the team with 12 points.
“I take a lot of pride in defense. I would say I am more of a defensive player than offense, and I allow my defense to kind of fuel my offense,” Tauro said. “I just told myself that this team needs me defensively, and I feel like I lead our defensive energy. So I just knew if I didn’t get turned up it would be hard for the rest of the team to.”
Guards Gabby Robinson and Ysabella Von Seipler picked up two fouls each six minutes into the game. Robinson stayed in foul trouble for the rest of the game, playing eight minutes less than in Cal Poly’s last game against UC Merced.
“You have to kind of see how the game is going to be officiated. I definitely think that the officials tonight were a little quick with their whistle, and I think that took a little bit of the edge off of what we were trying to do defensively, and I think you know we got to do a better job of adjusting in the game,” Stires said.
The foul trouble put extra strain on the Mustang’s already small nine-player rotation.
“I think right now we’re a little limited with our roster. We need some kids to get healthy,” Stires said.
Forward Avery Knapp made her return against Whittier after missing the Mustangs’ previous three games. She had only one full practice but still played a productive 18 minutes, with 10 points and nine rebounds.
“Her effort tonight was a huge spark plug. I think we needed another body, especially on the inside,” Stires said about Knapp. “To have her back was huge, and I think you know you could tell she was a little rusty.”
One point of criticism Tauro, Knapp and Stires shared was the lack of coordination.
“I think that playing together is something that we really need to start focusing on, especially going into the next few games that we have against really good Division I teams,” Knapp said. “The competition that we have had so far isn’t really a good measure of what we’ve done, like what we’re going to see.”
Cal Poly will take on Idaho State next in another non-conference game. Stires said that she hopes to get some players back around the UCLA game later that week.
“Knock on wood, we can get everybody back healthy and kind of move this thing in the direction that I think we all want it to go,” Stires said.