Kali BillsOne way to look at the Cal Poly women’s basketball team’s loss Saturday to UC Santa Barbara is that it was its sixth loss in the past eight games. A more optimistic view, though, would be that the Mustangs took the Big West Conference-leading Gauchos to overtime, and gave the unbeaten squad one of its toughest conference tests this season.
Cal Poly head coach Faith Mimnaugh takes the more positive position.
“We still have an opportunity to take second place (in the Big West),” she explained in light of the 74-72 shortcoming. “Certainly (the game against UC) Santa Barbara was a big confidence-booster. If you can take on the conference leader and take them into overtime, I think that speaks well to your ball club.”
The Mustangs will put their resolve to the test in hosting UC Davis at 7 p.m. tonight in Mott Gym.
Tonight’s contest will mark the first of their last five regular-season games, four of which will be at home, possibly serving as an advantage in helping their Big West standing.
Helping keep Cal Poly close with UCSB (17-6, 11-0) was freshman forward Kristina Santiago, who led the Mustangs with 19 points and a career-high 14 rebounds in her second collegiate double-double.
Mimnaugh said she is “super excited” about what Santiago has brought to the team and believes she will be in serious contention for Big West Freshman of the Year honors.
“I envisioned that this would be the type of season she would be having,” Mimnaugh said. “She suffered some injuries early in the season, and some illnesses, which made this a little later run than I had first anticipated, but she really caught on to what we need to have her do defensively, and certainly offensively. She’s been a monster for us.”
The Mustangs (9-15, 6-5) will look for Santiago to continue being one of their best post players in order to gain a win tonight, as UC Davis (15-9, 9-3) is on a five-game winning streak.
In the two teams’ most recent meeting, however, Cal Poly won 62-61 on the road Jan. 26. Senior guard Sparkle Anderson, who tipped in the game-winning basket with 1.3 seconds left, netted a team-high 18 points.
“Last time we played (UC Davis), they went with a different guard lineup,” Mimnaugh said. “I think they’ll play (Anna) Harp instead of (Kirsten) Commins at the starter position.”
In third-place UC Davis’ most recent game, an 82-55 rout of Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, senior forward Heather Bates contributed team highs of 22 points and seven rebounds.
Another challenge the Mustangs must overcome will be the lingering illness that recently hit their junior forward Megan Harrison, who posts team highs of 13.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game but has come off the bench three straight times.
“She had a bout with the flu that infiltrated our whole team,” Mimnaugh said, adding “she’s able to breathe a lot better and we’re pretty close to getting her back to 100 percent.”
Harrison said she is feeling much better and is aware of this week’s importance in moving up in conference standings.
“(UC Davis) runs a zone defensively and we’ve prepared and practiced for that,” Harrison said. “We’ve also been going over all their offensive plays so we know everything they’re going to run against us.”
The fourth-place Mustangs will also likely focus on the Aggies’ scoring tandem of senior forward Jessica Campbell and junior guard Haylee Donaghe, who average 15 and 13.1 points per game, respectively.
“Donaghe is killing it,” Mimnaugh said. “She’s a problem – her size, her quickness and her athleticism are all going to be difficulties for us.”