Kristen Ale tied for a team-high 18 points for Cal Poly. By Owen Main

For the second straight game, a Cal Poly comeback fell short as the Mustangs lost to the Dartmouth Big Green 74-61 on the opening day of the Cal Poly/ShareSLO Holiday Tournament.

Cal Poly was led by Ariana Elegado and Kristen Ale, who scored 18 points each.

Early in the second half, it didn’t look like the game would even be as close as it was. Dartmouth, which had a size advantage at just about every position, shot 59 percent from the field in the first half and took a 31-16 lead into halftime. The Big Green started the second half on a 12-2 run to build a 25-point lead at 43-18 with 16:29 to play.

Cal Poly, whose offense sputtered in the first half, put a small lineup into the game and pressed to try to close the gap. The tactic worked for a while. With four guards and Taryn Garza on the floor, Cal Poly forced turnover after turnover and went on a 16-0 run over a 3:59 span to cut the lead to 43-34.

But shaving 16 points  off a lead like that took a lot of effort. Dartmouth’s Lakin Roland responded by scoring five consecutive points to push the lead back to 14. Cal Poly would never get closer than 10 again. Roland finished the game with 29 points and shot 8-13 from the field.

Ariana Elegado and company are still finding out what combinations work this season. By Owen Main

Cracking the combination

Cal Poly head coach Faith Mimnaugh is still experimenting with lineups and trying to figure out who this team really wants to be. Freshmen Dynn and Lynn Leaupepe look like they could be all-league players on certain possessions and like freshmen on others. Ariana Elegado is still trying to figure out whether she needs to create her own shot, since she doesn’t get the ball kicked to her very often yet. On this night, Cal Poly played 13 players, including Paige Brown, Mary Kate Evans, and Gabby Grupalo. Clearly, Mimnaugh is searching for a spark.

The Mustangs’ effort is there, without question, but finding the right combination on the court to channel their energy into winning plays is something this group is still working on.

Driving school

Failure to convert shots in the lane cost Cal Poly on this night. Over the past two games, the Mustangs have driven to the basket and either missed layups or not drawn fouls on contact on at least 10 possessions. When other teams go down on the other end and score, the result is often as deflating as a turnover.

For the game, Cal Poly shot 37 percent from the field and 27 percent from 3-point range. They also shot only 10-18 from the free throw line. Compare that to Dartmouth’s sizzling 56 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent shooting from 3-point range and the wide margin becomes understandable.

The tourney continues

Cal Poly continues play in the Cal Poly/ShareSLO Holiday Tournament tomorrow (Saturday) at 5:00 when they face-off against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, who beat Kent State on Friday. Dartmouth will play Kent State at 3:00. Admission to all games this weekend is free.

Photos by Owen Main

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