It was obvious Vanessa McManus would be taking the final shot for Cal Poly.
She had already matched her career-high of 29 points, and the ball remained in her hands as she dribbled up the court against Southern Utah.
The transfer from Saint Leo University – a Division II school in Florida – motioned for a screen just beyond the three-point line hoping to force a switch onto a smaller defender.
The screen didn’t come, but it didn’t matter.
The standout sophomore guard took one dribble, sidestepped to the right and drilled the game-tying three as time expired to send Friday night’s non-conference battle into overtime.
“I just had to make something happen,” McManus said. “If I missed, I was just going to live with it.”
The Mustangs would strike first in overtime off a McManus layup, but that was all she scored in extra time. The Thunderbirds forced her into tough looks around the rim, only allowing her to get off two more shot attempts following the made basket.
The career-high 34 points from McManus weren’t enough for Cal Poly (1-4) to stop their three-game losing skid, as they fell 85-80 inside Mott Athletics Center to Southern Utah (5-1).
In only five games as a Mustang, McManus has dazzled as the premier scoring threat for a team searching for an offensive identity – but it’s also the sign of a larger trend.
“There’s a lot of positives, but we’ve got to get a little more balance in our offense,” head coach Shanele Stires said. “When you look at the rate with which she’s scoring the basketball right now, I don’t think we can feast on that all year. We just need to take some pressure off her and balance the scoring a little.”
The offense, for now, is getting most of its production from two players.
One is McManus, and the other is freshman guard Charish Thompson, the only other Mustang in double figures on Friday. She attacked the rim all night long for 21 points, adding a team-high eight rebounds as well.
The Sachse, Texas native entered the game averaging 15.8 points per game, the seventh most in the Big West.
After dropping a career-high 29 points in the road loss against Stanford, McManus entered Friday night’s game leading the Big West in points per game with 23 and shooting 38% from three.
Last year, in her freshman season at Saint Leo, she averaged 13.1 PPG and shot an exceptional 46% clip from beyond the arc.
Stires says her fearless ability to create her own shot was developed in the streets of her hometown. McManus, a Staten Island, N.Y. native, is what Stires calls “East Coast tough.”
“She’s used to playing on the streets with dudes,” Stires said. “She’s got an incredible work ethic. She’s in the gym every morning at 6 a.m. with one of our coaches. She’s a gym rat.”
Friday night’s exceptional performance was also the first time any Mustang has scored more than 30 points for Cal Poly since Dec. 21, 2020, when Abbey Ellis poured in 39 against San Diego State.
Cal Poly entered the season needing someone to fill the role of senior Annika Shah, its leading scorer the past three seasons who graduated at the end of last year.
While McManus’ start has been nothing short of exceptional, Cal Poly can’t rely on her alone to manufacture production.
“We were concerned coming into the season, losing Annika Shah who could create her own shot,” Stires said. “We knew we had to have somebody like that. As talented as Vanessa is, I think she’s gonna thrive if we’re able to set her up a little bit more.”
Mustangs’ struggles continue with inexperienced lineup
Initially running a man-to-man defense in the first half of the game, Stires switched to zone to combat not only early foul trouble but an inexperienced lineup that struggled to contain Southern Utah’s offensive attack.
Cal Poly trailed most of the night and entering the fourth quarter, they were down 13.
Redshirt sophomore guard Alana Goosby, who had registered 11 steals through the first four games of the season, was a late scratch Friday. Sophomore guard Gabby Robinson, who’s still recovering from an injury, remained out of the lineup as well.
“We’ve had to play a lot of lineups that haven’t practiced together before,” Stires said. “It’s not an excuse, but we have starters that are currently out. Goosby is a starter. Gabby Robinson was pre-slated as a starter before the season started. Those kids are some of our best defenders.”
Without Goosby, the Mustangs turned to freshman guard Katie Peiffer, who knocked down two threes and scored nine points in her collegiate debut.
On her first collegiate attempt, Peiffer drained a high-arcing shot in the second quarter on a two-dribble pull-up from the left wing.
She was initially a candidate to redshirt this season, not playing at all through the first four games. During practice throughout the week, Peiffer and the coaching staff made the decision not to do so.
“Luckily she made that decision, because we needed her,” Stires said. “We were running out of bodies, but she’s another kid that can shoot. Once she figures some things out, I think Mustang fans are gonna be really excited about her.”
The Mustangs’ inexperienced lineup tied their season-high in turnovers with 21, committed 36 team fouls and had four players foul out. The Thunderbirds’ were able to capitalize off the offensive miscues, scoring 26 points off turnovers.
“We’re a young team and kind of inexperienced right now, but I think we’re improving every game, and the best is to come,” McManus said. “Look out when it comes to conference play.”
With one more game before conference action starts, Cal Poly will look to put an end to their four-game losing streak Monday night, as they’ll take on Chapman University at 6 p.m.