The Cal Poly’s Women’s Basketball team won their first game of the season 62-43 against Sacramento State on Monday, Nov. 20 inside Mott Athletics Center. After trailing in the first quarter, the Mustangs rebounded with a fifteen-point scoring run in the third quarter to surge ahead of the Hornets.
“I was really happy about our performance today…I felt like our players did a great job communicating and did their roles exceptionally well,” said head coach Coach Mimnaugh.
True freshman point guard Abbey Ellis was dominant for the Mustangs with a career-high 24 points. 12 of Ellis’s points came from behind the three-point line as the Australia native scored 4 of 7 attempted three-pointers.
“It was amazing,” Ellis said. “I just felt like we were playing together as a team. We wanted a win by more than twenty. We had a goal, and I think we really reached that. It was a great team effort.”
Sacramento State started off strong and lead the game 21-14 through the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Mustangs made up for the deficit with 17 points — more than double the points the Hornets made that quarter (8).
Cal Poly outscored Sacramento State in the third and fourth quarters as the Hornets were unable to convert the vital three-pointers they needed. Sacramento State was 7 of 36 from behind the arc.
The Mustangs’ 15-point scoring run in the third quarter put the Hornets out of reach at 48-32. At the end of the fourth quarter, Cal Poly had their biggest lead of the game with 20 points.
Along with the strong performance by Ellis, redshirt junior forward Sierra Campisano was 5 of 12 in field goals and finished the game with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
“What sums it up is relentlessness,” Ellis said. “We left it all on the court… coming off those two losses, we really wanted to redeem ourselves and I think every player who stepped on the court did just that.”
Cal Poly will travel to Tempe, Arizona to take on No. 18 Arizona State on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 4 p.m.