The Cal Poly women’s basketball team kicks off its regular season on Friday with a nonconference road game against the No. 23 Oklahoma State Cowgirls.
The Mustangs, coming off back-to-back regular season titles, were picked to finish fourth in the preseason Big West Conference media poll rankings. The lowered expectations can be attributed to the loss of reigning Big West Player of the Year Kristina Santiago, who averaged 23.4 points per game and 9.9 rebounds last year.
“We obviously lost a big part of our (team) from last year, Kristina Santiago, but also we have a lot of talent coming back, a lot of skill,” junior center Molly Schlemer said. “We have a lot of underclassmen that are looking to step up, too, and me being a veteran, I know what to expect.”
The talent coming back includes junior guard Jonae Ervin in addition to senior guard Kayla Griffin, who averaged 8.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game last season and was picked to the preseason All-Big West second team this year.
The Mustangs also added sophomore transfer Taryn Garza, who most recently competed in track at Modesto Junior College. Garza also played basketball for Pacific during the 2010-2011 season and is expected to compete for minutes as a forward for Cal Poly this year.
“She’s brought incredible athleticism to the forefront, whether it’s just getting out on the break and being the main rebounder or finishing on the break, or really her defensive stopping ability is exceptional,” head coach Faith Mimnaugh said. “Nobody wants her to guard them in practice because she’s just a terror, she doesn’t let you catch the ball. We’re really excited to have her as part of our program.”
After losing three of their top five leading scorers in Santiago, as well as guards Ashlee Burns and Christine Martin, the Mustangs will need a full team effort to earn a victory against talented Oklahoma State.
“It’s gonna be a tough game, there’s a lot of athleticism on that team. It’s a whole different conference, basketball is a huge thing out in Oklahoma,” Schlemer said. “The facilities are crazy, so it’s a whole different atmosphere but it’s gonna be really fun and we can make a pretty good run on them, we just have to play our game.”
Being the first game of the year, however, there will likely be a fair amount of mistakes, and Mimnaugh said she sees Friday’s game against the Cowgirls as a chance to learn more about her team.
“We’re trying to make a statement about who we’re going to be, I don’t expect us to be at A-level basketball on our game on Friday,” Mimnaugh said. “But we will see exactly where we stand and all the improvements that we need to make before we hit conference play in January. It’s a really great opportunity for us to play against top competition in the country and kind of see where we’re at.”
Following the game against Oklahoma State, the Mustangs travel to Oregon State on Monday and have their home opener against San Diego the following Saturday. Cal Poly also has a tough matchup on the road against No. 13 California on the horizon before they begin conference play against Long Beach State in January.
After winning consecutive regular season titles, Mimnaugh sees her team’s preseason ranking as a chance to fly under the radar and play the underdog role, she said.
“It puts us in a position where we are a little bit of the underdogs, it gives us some fuel to try to get back to that position of being No. 1,” Mimnaugh said. “The ranking at the beginning of the year has little effect on where you hope to be at the very end, other than fuel, so that’s how we’re using it.”
Jefferson P. Nolan and James Corbett contributed to this article.