In their junior season, it looks like the Leaupepe twins are coming into their own. On Thursday night, Dynn Leaupepe scored 29 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished five assists. Not to be outdone, Lynn scored 26 points of her own to go with nine rebounds and two assists in Cal Poly’s 78-67 win over Blue-Green rival UCSB.

Dynn Leaupepe shows some emotion after an and-one bucket on Thursday night. By Owen Main

Hannah Gilbert played a great defensive game, fronting UCSB’s big post players all night while tallying 13 points and seven rebounds. Forward Amanda Lovely also had a monster game with 8 points and 12 rebounds.

Cal Poly was down 35-29 at halftime, but outscored the Gauchos 49-32 in the second half to pull away. Coco Miller went 7-13 from three-point range for UCSB to pace them with 23 points. Onome Jemerigbe used her quickness to get to the rim and score 17, but Cal Poly’s game-plan of laying off a number of Gaucho guards and sag and help on UCSB’s bigs really paid-off as the game wore-on.

Cal Poly will host CSUN on Saturday night at Mott Athletics Center at 4:00pm.

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Hannah Gilbert and Lisa Marie Sanchez had a dozen points apiece and Cal Poly used tough defense and timely second-half shooting to beat Cal State Fullerton on Saturday night at Mott Athletics Center.

Beth Balbierz had just four points but added four steals and three assists in the Mustang win. By Owen Main

Cal Poly had a tough time being efficient on the offensive end, but the Titans struggled even more to the tune of 23 turnovers.

Fullerton used a 9-2 run to start the third quarter to gain a five-point advantage, but Cal Poly came roaring back with a 13-4 run of their own to take the lead for good.

Gilbert pulled down seven rebounds for Cal Poly (9-7, 2-1), who got a little revenge after losing a Big West Tournament game to the Titans in 2015.

Photos by Owen Main

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Morro Bay High School product Hannah Gilbert scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds in Cal Poly’s Saturday win. By Owen Main

The Cal Poly women’s basketball team beat UC Irvine on Saturday to improve their conference record to 6-2 and maintain their half-game lead over Long Beach State and Hawai’i in the Big West.

The Mustangs were in control for pretty much the entire game behind a balanced scoring attack.Dynn Leaupepe and Hannah Gilbert scored 14 points each to pace Cal Poly. Kristen Ale and Ariana Elegado both added nine points.

Cal Poly has Thursday off before a gauntlet of three games against the three other best teams in the conference — all on the road. First, they travel to Hawai’i for a Saturday game before traveling the next week to Cal State Northridge for an ESPN3 game and Long Beach State. While the first half of conference play is over, the conference tournament seeds could easily be decided for the Mustangs over the next 14 days.

Photos by Owen Main. To view on an iPad, click here.

Over 2,000 fans showed-up to Mott Athletics Center on Saturday afternoon. By Owen Main

They didn’t break the attendance record, but Faith Mimnaugh’s Cal Poly women’s basketball team won the prize they valued most on Saturday, beating defending conference champion Cal State Northridge 63-54 in front of 2,047 fans. The crowd was the second-largest showing in the history of the program.

Ariana Elegado led Cal Poly, tallying 22 points, five rebounds, four assists, and four steals, while playing 39 minutes.

Cal Poly got out to a 30-17 lead in the first half before CSUN cut the deficit to six at halftime. The Matadors continued their charge with a 21-4 run that straddled both halves to take a four point lead.

The lead didn’t last long though. Beth Balbierz answered with a three-pointer, Elegado a jumper, and Mary Kate Evans a three-pointer of her own to spur a 15-0 Mustang run, as Cal Poly once again built-up a double digit lead.

Cal Poly lost to the Matadors all three times they faced off a year ago, including in the Big West Tournament final. As Elegado detailed in the video below, revenge was definitely a motivating factor in this game.

Kristen Ale was the only other Mustang in double figures with 10 points to go along with six rebounds. Hannah Gilbert led the team in rebounds with seven while playing the game with strep throat.

Cal Poly is now 8-8 overall and 3-1 in Big West play, where they sit tied for second place behind Long Beach State. CSUN, the preseason conference favorite, drops to 2-2 in conference play.

Photos by Owen Main. To view on an iPhone or iPad, click here.

Ariana Elegado didn’t score in the first half, but managed eight points in the game. By Owen Main

In a hotly-contested game that saw the lead change eight times in the second half, Pepperdine beat Cal Poly, 76-69. Down by as many as 15 in the first half, Cal Poly clawed-back and took the lead in the second half. The lead changed hands on seemingly every possession until Pepperdine found buckets down the stretch, made their free throws, and outlasted the Mustangs over the last five minutes or so.

Cal Poly is a young team that is probably going to be prone to some mistakes, especially early-on this year. For example, the team committed 23 turnovers in Tuesday’s game.

But Cal Poly is going to need newcomers Lisa Marie Sanchez, Dynn Leaupepe, and Lynn Leaupepe to play big roles all season alongside sophomore Hannah Gilbert and so they’ll all have to be patient while everyone finds their comfort level for this season.

What I liked

There were lots of bright spots and things to really like if you’re a Cal Poly fan. First of all, the Leaupepe twins are everything they were cracked up to be. They are aggressive, savvy players that do not always look like freshmen. Dynn, who started the game, finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Her sister, Lynn, came off the bench to score 7 points and pull down 8 rebounds.

Sarah Lipton was another bright spot off the bench. She scored five points in the first half and played good defense at the 4 in the second half. Like Gilbert and the newcomers, Lipton is working to find her role. It may take some time, but the minutes off the bench on Tuesday were mostly quality ones from the sophomore.

Gilbert is another sophomore who continues to show promise. While she and the rest of her teammates missed their fair share of inside shots in the game, Gilbert is able to easily sky over other players for rebounds. She’ll get better as the season goes on at picking her spots on the offensive end. She’s a player who should shoot above 50 percent from the floor. As the season wears on, she’ll work her way into being more comfortable with starting minutes.

Kristin Ale is showing this year that she is a lot more than just a spot-up shooter. By Owen Main

What they’re still working on

Dynn and Lynn are both capable of putting the ball on the ground and finishing around the hoop in one-on-one situations. There were at least three such plays in this game that kept the Mustangs close. Unfortunately, once they do that once or twice, help comes quickly at this level. Both players are still figuring out how and when to curb their drives. Cal Poly has open three-point specialists like Kristin Ale, Elegado, and Beth Balbierz. As the season goes on, look for all the wing players on the team to drive with their head up a little more and find their open teammates.

Another silver lining from Tuesday’s game is that Elegado had zero points in the first half and Cal Poly was still able to cut into Pepperdine’s big lead. While Elegado didn’t score a ton, she did push the tempo. The senior managed eight points in the second half, but getting her on the board should always be an early indicator for how the Mustangs will play.

Tempo

In case you didn’t notice, Cal Poly pushes the tempo. Hard. They took 79 shots in the game, but only made 35 percent of them. As the season progresses, look for percentages to go up some. That being said, the Cal Poly women’s style is much different than the men. They can live with 15 turnovers if they’re generally pushing the tempo and getting shots they want.

On Tuesday, Pepperdine took far fewer shots, but got to the free throw line 34 times compared to Cal Poly’s 13. That’s a big discrepancy, especially for a home team who was taking the ball to the basket a lot.

Richardson has a night

Guard Bria Richardson scored 29 points for Pepperdine. She shot the ball 24 times to get there and shot 6-8 from the free throw line. Her mid-range and slashing game was really really good. She has the kind of quickness that is rare at this level of college basketball. Add to that her length — just enough to get good shots over other guards — and you have a recipe for a player who will put up a lot of points this season if she wants.

ShareSLO Tournament

Cal Poly will host the Cal Poly/ShareSLO Holiday Tournament Friday and Saturday at Mott Athletics Center. They will play Ivy League team Dartmouth on Friday, followed by Texas A&M, Corpus Christi on Saturday. Both games are at 5:00 PM and admission is free.