In 19 minutes of play, senior forward Kristina Santiago scored 19 points to lead the women’s basketball team to a 69-47 victory over UC Riverside.
It was Cal Poly’s seventh consecutive victory as the Mustangs improved to 9-3 in Big West action and sit in second place in the conference, a half game behind Cal State Northridge. With a 13-12 record overall, the team is above .500 for the first time since Nov. 27.
Jonae Ervin scored 10 points — it was her fifth straight game scoring in the double-digits. Holding a six-point lead at halftime, the Mustangs bolted out of the gates to begin the second half on a 15-2 run and the Highlanders never recovered.
All 13 Mustangs played, and eight scored in the game as head coach Faith Mimnaugh gave starters Santiago, Ashlee Burns and Caroline Reeves a rest for much of the game.
The team then defeated UC Irvine 76-63 on the road to begin the weekend. Santiago and Ervin again led the way with 22 and 17 points respectively.
Santiago is seventh in the nation, averaging more than 22 points per game, ninth in field goal percentage (55.6) and 25th in rebounds (9.9). She leads the conference in all of those categories as well. The team leads the conference in scoring offensive as the Mustangs average 72.9 points per game and a 4.9 point average margin of victory, also good for first in the Big West.
The Mustangs host Long Beach State on Thursday at 4 p.m. and conference-leader Cal State Northridge on Saturday at 7 p.m.