The Cal Poly women’s basketball team entered their game against Cal State Northridge on Saturday as the top dog in the Big West, boasting an undefeated record in conference. They continued their winning ways with an 82-52 victory.
Three Mustangs recorded double-digit point totals, but an all-around effort lead Cal Poly to its seventh consecutive win.
Abby Bloetscher scored 16 points and her total was matched by Analee Viene-Lota, who had 16 for the Matadors. A controversial call followed two of Bloetscher’s points early in the second half as Violet Alama crashed to the hardwood when Bloetscher turned around to head back down the court and ran into Alama.
The referees bit their whistles immediately following the play, but continued to discuss the situation throughout a timeout. After the three referees huddled for a minute, they walked to the scorers table and called a technical foul on Bloetscher to the chagrin of the fans in attendance.
“As a post player, the name of the game is physicality,” Bloetscher said. “You get bumped, you bump girls, you get fouled. As for the technical, I’m sorry it got interpreted that way. I did not mean to hurt the girl, but it is what it is.”
Bloetscher also said she was pleased to see that the team was not phased by the incident and kept up their pace of play following the technical.
The opening half was spoiled by sloppy play, as the Mustangs racked up 13 turnovers in the initial 20 minutes. Fortunately, 13 steals, four coming off the quick play of Rachel Clancy, mostly negated the errors.
“When we went into halftime we talked about our passes and making better decisions on the court and being smarter all around,” Bloetscher said. “I think that we came back in the second half and we were more focused.”
The team only gave up the ball eight times in the second half, but head coach Faith Mimnaugh said the Mustangs will have to sharpen up to continue competing at a high level.
Clancy also found Kayla Griffin on an alley oop over a couple Matador defenders as Griffin laid two of her 11 points into the basket. That score, with seven minutes remaining in the first half, extended Cal Poly’s lead to 10 points.
Bloetscher concluded the first half scoring with her ninth and tenth points on a jumper from about 10 feet off a Clancy assist.
By spreading the ball around to eight different scorers, Cal Poly methodically worked its way out to a 38-20 lead at the break, never trailing.
The second half saw more of the Mustangs’ bench, led by 6-foot-5 inch freshman Molly Schlemer. She scored 12 points in just 11 minutes during the second half as the Mustangs on the sideline cheered each time she muscled her way through the paint.
“Everybody loves Molly,” Mimnaugh said. “She’s such a great person and because we know what kind of player she can be, her teammates are always on her trying to help her get better and better. So they give it to her pretty good all through practice so when she’s doing something well they are really excited because they know how hard she’s working.”
During a 67-second stretch late in the second half, Schlemer made three consecutive layups stretching the Mustang lead to 27 points as the Mustang bench stood on their feet.
“It means everything to me when I see my teammates cheering, as much as I’m working,” Schlemer said. “When I see that, I just want to work hard for them and get all the points I can, so I can cheer for the team on the bench when I’m resting.”
Redshirt freshman Jonae Ervin executed one of the plays of the game with 13 minutes to go as she punched the ball away on the baseline, regained her footing and sprinted coast-to-coast laying home two of her six points.
The Mustangs outshot the Matadors, going 33 for 64 (51.6 percent) while Cal State Northridge managed to hit only 16 of its 47 shots (34 percent). Cal Poly also dominated in the paint with 36 points from close range while the Northridge earned 14.
The Matadors have experienced a different season than the Mustangs, winning only one game this season when they defeated Pacific in overtime.
Cal Poly remains the only team in the Big West with fewer than two losses in conference, but the team faces a conference title contender on Thursday as the Mustangs look to extend their winning streak against UC Santa Barbara in Isla Vista.
The Gauchos are the only team in the Big West that Cal Poly has not defeated.