After playing three games in four nights, the Cal Poly women’s basketball team has an idea of where it’s going.
“It was a busy week,” Cal Poly head coach Faith Mimnaugh said. “We’ve been challenging a lot of top-notch teams. Last week was kind of a verification that we’re heading in the right direction.”
Cal Poly (4-2) will take on another tough team when it hosts Loyola Marymount at 5 tonight in Mott Gym in its fourth game of a five-game homestand.
“Loyola is a good team,” Mimnaugh said. “We’ve been battling with them since I’ve been here – we’ve had some really good games. Last year they got the better of us.”
If the Mustangs do beat Loyola Marymount, they’ll likely rely on the play of their frontline, which includes senior forward Megan Harrison (who last week was named the co-Big West Conference Player of the Week and moved into third place on the career scoring list at Cal Poly).
Harrison, at 6-foot-1, leads the Mustangs with 14.8 points per game. She’s followed by Kristina Santiago (6-1) at 11, Lisa McBride (6-2) at 10.7, Becky Tratter (6 foot) at 8.3 and Abby Bloetscher (6-3) at 5.5.
“We present some matchup problems for people,” Mimnaugh said.
The Mustangs are coming off an undefeated run in the Courtyard by Marriott San Luis Obispo Holiday Beach Classic, with wins against Missouri-Kansas City and Idaho this past weekend.
The Lions (5-1) defeated Cal Poly 80-64 a year ago, based largely on the 45 points by then-freshman Renahy Young and then-senior Amanda DeCoud. While DeCoud graduated, Mimnaugh said that focusing on the guards is still a key factor to slowing down the Lions’ attack.
“They’ve got tremendous guard play,” Mimnaugh said. “They’ve got good penetration, which is obviously a concern for me. We want to take care of penetration and keep them off the foul line.”
– Scott Silvey