This is all too familiar territory for the Cal Poly women’s basketball team.
After it looked like Cal Poly would secure the No.1 seed in the Big West Tournament last season, the Mustangs dropped two of their last three games to fall behind UC Davis in the conference standings.
As the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Cal Poly lost to UC Riverside in the conference tournament semifinal.
This season, the Mustangs look to be heading on the same path. After reeling off eight straight wins, the Mustangs dropped two games this weekend. One to conference bottom dweller Cal State Northridge (4-22, 4-9 Big West), and the other to UC Riverside (14-11, 7-5).
The Mustangs entered this weekend as victors in 10 of their last 12 games. They leave it with just a one-game lead over No. 2 UC Santa Barbara.
Four different double-digit scores helped conference-worst Cal State Northridge upset No. 1 Cal Poly on Thursday. Janet Alvarado scored 16 points, Amanda Thomson scored 14, Violet Alama scored 14 and Jasmine Erving scored 10 for Cal State Northridge.
The Matadors connected on 50 percent of the shots behind their arc and rode their hot shooting in the final minutes of the game. Thomson hit a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in the game and Alama hit a layup to knock off the Mustangs.
Against UC Riverside, guard Rachel Clancy’s 29 points couldn’t help the Mustangs knock off the Highlanders. The senior connected on 63 percent of her shots — and five of six from behind the arc — but the Mustangs still fell short.
It was partly due to the Highlanders’ hot shooting against the Mustangs. They shot 51 percent from the field in the first half and upped that number to 53 percent in the second half.
The Mustangs will return to action against Cal State Fullerton Thursday at 7 p.m. in Mott Gym.