For the Cal Poly women’s basketball team, it was a season of ups and downs culminating in a heartbreaking upset by Long Beach State in the Big West Conference Tournament semifinals to end their 2011-12 campaign.
The No. 1-ranked team heading into the tournament, the Mustangs found their groove midway through their conference schedule, capturing the team’s first outright Big West championship following a 12-4 record in conference play.
The season saw Cal Poly succumb to a seven-game losing streak early in the year followed by a nine-game winning streak en route to a 17-14 overall record.
The Mustangs used their nine-game winning streak beginning with a 74-64 triumph over Pacific on Jan. 26 to garner a top seed, but a lackluster shooting performance in their final game against the 49ers meant a second-round exit for the favorites.
The Mustangs earned a spot in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) a year ago after losing to UC Davis in the championship round of the Big West Tournament. They faced Washington in the first round. However, an invitation to the NCAA Tournament has proved to be elusive for the Mustangs — they have never advanced in 17 Division I seasons.
In a press conference following the loss to Long Beach State, head coach Faith Mimnaugh expressed her disappointment in the team’s inability to win a tournament championship.
“It was frustrating, extremely so for the whole team because I felt like we were the best team in the conference,” Mimnaugh said. “I’m disappointed for our program because I felt like this was the year we’d be able to do it, get to the NCAA’s and the Big Dance.”
Despite the loss, senior forward Kristina Santiago capped the season with her 17th double-double of the year scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds against the 49ers. She also earned her second Big West Player of Year Award a week prior following a record-breaking season for the Santa Maria, Calif.-native.
In a March 3 victory at Pacific, Santiago broke the all-time Cal Poly scoring mark set by Laura Buehning in the 1982 season. Santiago finished with 1,925 career points as a Mustang.
She also earned her third first-team All-Conference honor this year scoring a conference-leading 23 points and grabbing 10 rebounds per game throughout the regular season.
Santiago was already Cal Poly’s all-time rebounds and shooting percentage leader coming into the conference tournament.
The senior tore her ACL in the first game of last season following a year in which she received her first conference Player of the Year award. Santiago had high expectations for her team coming into the 2011-12 campaign.
“We were the best team in this conference this year, but we just didn’t come out ready to get after it (against Long Beach State),” Santiago said.
Santiago was joined by junior guard Kayla Griffin, who reaped second-team honors, and guards Ashlee Burns and Jonae Ervin, who each earned All-Conference honorable mentions.
Ervin finished the regular season first nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio, leading the Mustangs with 104 helpers and 32 turnovers. But the sophomore tore her right ACL in the tournament game against Long Beach State — she suffered the same injury in her freshman season two years ago.
The Mustangs got off to a bumpy start, beginning the year 3-9 following a seven-game losing streak in December — six of those losses came on the road. Cal Poly then regrouped, winning its first three conference games, but faltered once again in another three-game losing streak in January.
The Mustangs made a tactical change in their defensive scheme in early February altering their matchup zone to a stingier man-to-man defense. The move paid dividends for Cal Poly as the Mustangs tore through the remainder of their conference schedule winning nine straight games before a March 1 setback to UC Davis — Santiago did not play in that game due to a concussion.
The Mustangs lead the conference averaging 71.8 points per game this year, including a 93-point performance in an opening-game loss to Oregon on Nov. 13.
Cal Poly will lose four seniors heading into next year — Santiago, Burns, guard Christine Martin and forward Abby Bloetscher.