Cal Poly Women’s Basketball has announced six incoming recruits joining the team for the 2024-25 season. The Mustangs announced the signing of four incoming freshmen in November: Carmela Fontes, Ana Moleon Hidalgo, Nora Perez and Gabby Robinson. Within the past week, the team announced two more additional signings: Ashley Hiraki and Avery Carter. Only one […]
Tag: Shanele Stires
Posted inWomen's Basketball
Offensive Struggles Lead to Mustangs Elimination from Big West Championship
Throughout the season, two things have consistently hurt Cal Poly Women’s Basketball: slow starts and turning the ball over. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, both of these issues showed up once again, but this time in the biggest game of their season. Cal Poly dropped the quarter-final of the Big West tournament against UC Davis on […]
Posted inWomen's Basketball
‘Resilient spirit’: How Cal Poly Women’s Basketball earned a first round bye in the Big West Championship
Heading into the second year of head coach Shanele Stires’ tenure at Cal Poly, the Women’s Basketball program was surrounded by many questions. Would the team be able to improve from their 10-18 season last year? Will the four returning players and nine newcomers be able to mesh? Will they have the same resilience we […]
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How Natalia Ackerman’s injury history fuels her play amid a breakout season
The Cal Poly Women’s Basketball senior is one of the few holdovers who were in the program before the hiring of current head coach Shanele Stires.
Posted inWomen's Basketball
Women’s basketball dominated by UC Irvine at home, drop to a tie for third in the Big West
As Cal Poly took the ball out for the first time at the beginning of the first quarter, the UC Irvine defense broke into a full-court press, a highly aggressive defensive scheme rarely seen early in games. This didn’t surprise the Mustangs, as they’ve seen this type of defense against them all season, but the […]
Posted inSports
Richards’ career-high 17 points lead Mustangs past UCSB, into fourth in the Big West
Down six points midway through the second quarter, junior guard Sidney Richards got a kick-out pass from junior guard Annika Shah, and knocked down the first Cal Poly three-pointer of the game from the left wing. Just seconds later, Richards found herself with the ball behind the arc again, and proceeded to drain her second […]
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Shah’s 10 assists propels Mustangs past Cal State Fullerton
Junior guard Annika Shah crossed the ball over from left to right on a fast break. With four defenders surrounding her, the 5 foot 3 guard drove into a forest of bodies. Before she came to a complete stop, Shah jumped into the air looking for a teammate to dish it off to. But then […]
Posted inWomen's Basketball
Without Stires once again, Cal Poly Women’s Basketball drops key Big West game to Hawaii
Cal Poly Women’s Basketball (13-10, 9-5 in Big West) traveled to the Stan Sheriff Center in Hawaii this Thursday, Feb. 15 to take on the Rainbow Wahine (14-9, 11-3 in Big West), looking to do something the program hasn’t been able to do since 2018 – beat Hawaii on the road. The Mustangs streak would […]
Posted inWomen's Basketball
With no Stires, Cal Poly Women’s Basketball mounts 21-point comeback against Long Beach State
Back when Cal Poly Women’s Basketball head coach Shanele Stires and assistant coach Samba Johnson worked together on the Ohio University basketball staff, they made a pact that whoever got a head coaching job first would hire the other. When Stires was named the head coach of Cal Poly in 2022, she brought Johnson with […]
Posted inWomen's Basketball
Shah’s 25 points, Bourland’s seven steals help Cal Poly Women’s Basketball sneak past Cal State Northridge
Throughout the course of this season, Cal Poly Women’s Basketball head coach Shanele Stires has relied on her returning players in crucial moments of games, and Thursday was no different. Each of the four returners, Annika Shah, Sierra Lichtie, Natalia Ackerman, and Sydney Bourland, played crucial roles in Cal Poly (12-9, 8-4 in Big West) […]
Posted inWomen's Basketball
Cal Poly’s Women’s Basketball comeback falls short against Hawai’i
The moment redshirt freshman Sierra Litchie made a free throw late in the fourth quarter to pull Cal Poly within two points of the University of Hawaii, Cal Poly seemed to have built momentum toward a hard-fought victory. Despite cutting a six-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to two points with just under one minute […]