It was a memorable night for junior forward Kristina Santiago, but not for the reasons everyone thinks.
Despite her Thursday night assault on the Cal Poly basketball record books, junior forward Kristina Santiago’s focus was on propelling the Mustangs over the visiting Cal State Fullerton Titans.
Mustangs head coach Faith Mimnaugh was satisfied with the win.
“It was an incredible game, both teams played, I thought, incredible basketball and obviously either team could have won,” she said. “I’m thrilled and grateful that we were the ones that came out on top.”
Santiago finished the night with a career high 34 points while becoming the ninth mustang to score 1000 career points and just the fourth Mustang to do it in under three season.
“She did everything on the court for us tonight … if tonight’s performance didn’t convince at least two coaches the she’s the best player in the league then I don’t know what else would,” Mimnaugh said.
Rachel Clancy helped out with 17 points, including a marksman-like 5-for-6 from three-point range. Desiray Johnston contributed with career-high nine assists.
An unexpected part of Thursday’s game was the play of freshman forward Kayla Griffin. Griffin, filling in for an injured Becky Tratter, played a career high 26 minutes and posted a career high 9 points.
It was a back and forth game that included everything from buzzer beaters to pressure free throws. Both the Mustangs and the Titans could not separate the score for 40 minutes.
Near the end of regulation, Cal Poly had the ball with about five seconds between the shot clock and game clock. Santiago caught the ball at the top of the key, reverse-pivoted and drove left. She drew a double team and then spun right, scooping the ball up and into the basket with five seconds left on the clock.
“My mindset was I’m probably going to drive, they’re probably all going to collapse and I’ll kick it,” said Santiago. “There was no one really on my left wing so I spun, thinking I was going to get another kick-out. She kind of rolled off on me and I had the basket.”
After a Fullerton timeout Lyndsey Grove was able to take the ball the whole length of the court and get fouled while shooting the ball. She sank two free throws to force overtime.
In the extra period, Cal Poly won the tip and got an immediate lift from junior guard Rachel Clancy, as she immediately put the Mustangs up from the onset of overtime.
“She was definitely clutch. That was a huge shot for us,” Santiago said.
Clancy and Santiago pulled their weight in the game;, both players logged over 40 minutes essentially playing the entire game. After Clancy opened overtime with her three, Santiago took care of the rest. Starting with their next offensive possession Santiago went: two point basket, defensive rebound, missed shot, two point basket, two point basket.
Santiago described her mindset as aggressive because she knows it will bring good results.
“I’d definitely say I was in attack mode,” she said.
After the teams exchanged scores, it came down to Fullerton’s final possession. A swarming Mustangs’ defense left the Titans with a step-back three as their only open look. Thesai final shot missed right.
Coach Mimnaugh said she felt like it was a benchmark win and that team showed good poise and promise.
“We’ve been battling injuries and all kinds of things but the team stuck solid together and I think that we’re playing some good basketball, (but) we still have more room to grow,” she said.