Stephan Teodosescu
steodosescu@mustangdaily.net
Despite suffering two separate knee injuries in her college career, Jonae Ervin still plays hard-nosed basketball.
The junior guard showed her gritty style Thursday night as she set the tempo early on for the Cal Poly women’s basketball team against visiting Cal State Fullerton.
Following a steal by redshirt sophomore guard Ariana Elegado midway through the first half, Ervin got poked in the eye on the ensuing fast break, but still managed to accept a pass from senior guard Kayla Griffin in the lane and launched a no-look, pull-up prayer that found the hoop and the foul. Senior Ashley Cascio sunk the free throw as Ervin came off the floor to get looked at, but not before her energy helped jumpstart the Mustangs to a 78-40 win over the Titans inside Mott Athletics Center.
“I couldn’t really see,” Ervin said. “I was dribbling with my right hand and thankfully we had people running so I was able to get (the shot) up…Honestly, if I had to I would have played out there with one eye.”
With the help of Ervin’s season-high 15 points — 11 of which came in the first half — and a career-high six rebounds the Mustangs improved to 5-3 in Big West Conference play and 11-8 overall while snapping a two-game skid. The win moved the Mustangs into a tie for second play in the Big West, trailing only 7-1 Pacific.
“I was really glad to see that (Ervin) was able to come back because I wasn’t sure if she was really struggling with her vision, but she toughed it for us and I though she played a fabulous game,” head coach Faith Mimnaugh said.
Junior center Molly Schlemer continued her own fabulous run as she posted 19 points and seven boards on 8 of 10 shooting in the win. It was her seventh consecutive double-figure scoring performance and her ninth in the Mustangs’ last 10 games.
Entering Thursday’s game Schlemer averaged 15.7 points on 61.3 percent shooting from the floor in conference games, good enough for second in the Big West in those categories.
“She’s the biggest kid in the conference,” Mimnaugh said. “She’s very skilled. She has great scoring ability, she has good footwork and her teammates want to get her the ball. She knows offensively, that’s her great gift she can give the team.”
Schlemer helped Cal Poly shoot a season-high 57.1 percent from the floor as a team while also lending a hand on the defensive side of the ball. After losing a heartbreaker in double-overtime to Cal State Northridge last weekend, defense became a focus for Cal Poly, Mimnaugh said.
The Mustangs used the memory of that game to fuel 19 Cal State Fullerton turnovers on Thursday, 13 of which came in the first half.
“We talked about how if we could play great gap defense and not allow penetration to force them into outside shots, then we would have a pretty good shot at winning this game,” Mimnaugh said. “I thought our team did a terrific job … We’re not a huge turnover-creating team so I was really pleased with what we did today.”
After trailing 8-4 to start the game, Cal Poly went on a 19-6 run midway through the first half, which was capped off with Ervin’s blind basket. The Mustangs would never look back, although the Titans got within four with six minutes to play in the opening frame on a couple of free throws by junior guard Brianna Barfield.
Nevertheless, Cal Poly used six steals in that half to gain a 33-24 advantage at the break. The Mustangs finished with 10 thefts on the night.
Cal Poly’s leading scorer Elegado, who averages nearly 12 points per game, got on the board when she hit a 3-pointer with 12:29 to go in the contest giving the Mustangs a sizeable 52-30 lead. Cal Poly then pulled away shooting 65.5 percent from the field in the second half while holding the Titans to just 28.8 percent.
The blowout allowed Mimnaugh to rotate in several freshmen players, some of which saw significant playing time near the end of the game.
Freshman Paige Brown scored a career-high six points and grabbed three rebounds as she didn’t miss a shot down the stretch.
“It’s nice coming off the bench and showing what I can actually do,” Brown said. “It was great with the whole team being energized with me. It’s a great feeling for me because I’ve never really played in a college game.”
Guard Annie Park led Cal State Fullerton (7-13, 3-5 BWC) with eight points on the night as she hit several 3-pointers near the end of the game.
The Mustangs look to sustain their undefeated home streak in conference play when they host UC Riverside Saturday at 4 p.m.