Cal Poly Women’s Basketball has three seniors — Dye Stahley, Katie Nunnelley and Devin Stanback — who played their last game in Mott Athletics Center on Saturday, March 2. Stanback could not participate during the Senior Day ceremony or play in the day’s game due to an illness she suffered prior to the game.
The three seniors have left a significant impact on the program, having played a total of 247 games combined.
Point guard Dye Stahley
Stahley has played a total of 108 games throughout her collegiate career. She played in every game as a freshman and has started in every game she has played in since her sophomore year. The Mesa, Arizona native has a career average of four points, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game. In her senior year, she made a serious jump in her points per game and assists per game totals — currently averaging 9.5 points and a team-high 5.2 assists. Stahley has accumulated a total of 431 points, 340 assists and more than 150 steals. During her junior year, she was awarded the Big West Conference Best Hustle Award. She also led the Big West in assist-to-turnover ratio during conference play in 2018 at 2.5-1. Stahley put on an unforgettable performance when she scored a career-high 23 points, including four three-pointers earlier this season.
As a senior point guard with a full four years of experience, Stahley is also recognized as one of the main leaders of the team.
“Obviously I wanted to be known for not just [being] a basketball player, but also being a good person,” Stahley said. “Everything that I have heard from people and the fans, I think that I have definitely conquered that.”
“I have never seen a leader like her,” Nunnelley said.
Stahley’s leadership skills will help the Mustangs next year, when she transitions to an assistant coach position while she finishes her bachelor’s degree in material engineering.
“I am going to be an assistant coach next year, so I am not leaving,” Stahley said. “That is going to be the hardest thing for me, not being able to get on the court.”
Forward Katie Nunnelley
Senior forward Nunnelley has played a total of 85 games throughout her collegiate career. Nunnelley only played in 19 games as a freshman, but then played every game as a sophomore. However, her junior season was cut short to 11 games due to injury.
“I had to sit out last year for my injury, which was hard,” Nunnelley said. “But I know that I have given everything I have to this program.”
After sitting out most of her junior year, Nunnelley came back her senior year and started all 26 games. This year she is averaging 6.3 points per game while grabbing 5.7 rebounds per game. Her best game of the season came in a 65-62 loss to the University of San Francisco in which she scored 21 points while getting 10 rebounds.
“[As a freshman], Coach Faith [Mimnaugh] told me that I needed to become a rebounder, and I took that to heart,” Nunnelley said. “Now I can score, rebound and distribute.”
As a sophomore, Nunnelley made the Big West All-Academic team. Again as a junior, the sociology student made the Big West Commissioner’s Highest Honors List.
Forward Devin Stanback
Devin Stanback played in 52 games during her career at Cal Poly. Stanback transferred from Pepperdine after her sophomore year and redshirted during the 2016-17 season. While sitting out her redshirt season, Stanback earned Big West Conference Commissioner’s Honors academically. During her first year with the Mustangs, she started in 28 of the 29 games and averaged 8.2 points per game while grabbing 3.6 rebounds.
She ranked eighth in the Big West with 2.2 offensive rebounds per game. In her final season, Stanback has started in 24 of the 25 games and has averaged 10.9 points per game while grabbing 3.8 rebounds per game. Her best game this season came in a 88-85 loss against Sacramento State, in which she scored 30 and got 11 rebounds.
The three seniors said they have grown incredibly close throughout their collegiate careers.
“The best part is having the players I get to play with become my friends for life,” Stahley said.