Women beat Gauchos, sweep series

After a week without a game, the Cal Poly women’s basketball team came out firing on its way to a 67-52 win and season sweep of rival UC Santa Barbara.

This marks the first time since the 1996-97 season that the Mustang women beat the Gauchos twice in regular season conference play. Cal Poly will improve to 6-3 in Big West play and 9-12 overall while UCSB falls to 3-6 in conference and 8-13 on the season.

Kristina Santiago led the way with 16 points, and sophomore point guard Jonae Ervin added another 14 in addition to three assists. Santiago played just 30 minutes because she picked up her second foul 10 minutes into the first half and didn’t return to the court until after the break.

The Mustangs still jumped out to a 30-15 halftime lead and held that advantage for the remainder of the game. It was the lowest point total the Mustangs allowed in a half this season. Both sides scored 37 points in the second half.

Redshirt freshman Ariano Elegado came off the bench to add nine points while going three of three from beyond the arc in 19 minutes of action.

Cal Poly shot 40 percent from the field and hit five of 12 attempts from behind the 3-point line.

Junior transfer Brittany Woodard played 14 minutes after coming off the bench. She hasn’t started since suffering an injury in November and missed 10 games.

The victory marked Cal Poly’s third in a row after dropping three in a row in mid-January. The team returns to the court for a non-conference match up at Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday before returning home to face Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 4 p.m., the first part of a double-header as the men take the court at 7 p.m. The Mustangs defeated the Titans on Jan. 5 by a score of 76-69.