Cal Poly Women’s Basketball came into Saturday’s road matchup against the UC Davis Aggies a tired team. The team was forced to forfeit Thursday’s road contest against first-place UC Irvine due to an illness within the team. Per Big West rules, that game is now a loss on their record.
Looking at the season as a whole, the Mustangs have played more than twice the amount of road games than home this season while fielding only 13 players, 11 of whom have played a game this year.
But none of those reasons seemed to affect Cal Poly though, as they returned to the win column on Saturday afternoon, taking the victory against the Aggies by a final of 57-47 inside University Credit Union Center on Saturday, Feb. 3.
The win helped the Mustangs (11-10, 7-4 Big West) sweep the season series against the Aggies for the first time since 2014-15 and helped them jump back into a tie for third in the Big West. The Cal Poly victory also marked the first home loss for UC Davis (11-10, 7-4 Big West) since November 9.
Saturday’s game was a tightly contested, back-and-forth affair for virtually the entire 40 minutes. The game featured 12 lead changes and eight ties, and neither team scored more than 18 points in either quarter.
As they have for much of the year, it was Cal Poly’s excellent defensive play that created opportunities on the offensive end, leading to multiple scoring runs in the first half, including a 9-0 run in the first quarter that helped them take their first lead of the game.
The Aggies opened the third quarter on a 7-4 run, and Cal Poly found itself trailing by as much as five for much of the quarter. However, a 9-2 run over the final 5:16 of the frame allowed the Mustangs to again tie the game and retake the lead, this time by a 39-37 total, heading into the final quarter.
By this point, the momentum was firmly back in Cal Poly’s favor, as the fourth quarter saw them hold UC Davis to 4-16 shooting while allowing just two free throws. It was this stout defense that allowed the offense to open up, and the Mustangs closed the game with an 11-3 run over the final six minutes to seal the 10-point victory at 57-47.
Despite just the back-and-forth game, the Mustangs dominated almost every category of the stat. They outshot UC Davis from beyond the arc, at 50% (6-12) compared to the Aggies’ 17.4% (4-23). They shot 41% (16-39) from the field compared to 34.6% (18-52) from UC Davis.
They were also the better team at the free throw line, as they went 86.4% (19-22) from the free throw line compared to the hosts’ 70% (7-10). They were also the more disciplined team as well, committing only 16 fouls (and just 5 in the second half) compared to Davis’ 20.
While they did give up more turnovers (23, compared to UCD’s 21), they scored more bench points (13-4) and more points off turnovers (17-16). However, perhaps surprisingly, the Mustangs were evenly matched in the rebounding battle, as they finished with the same total (29) as their opponent for just the second time this season.
Individually, the Mustangs were led by graduate guard Ania McNicholas, who finished with a season-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and five steals. Junior point guard Annika Shah also continued her standout play this season, totaling 12 points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Up next, the Mustangs will look to start another win streak when they host the CSU Northridge Matadors on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. inside Mott Athletics Center.