Lisa Marie Sanchez scored 10 points against Fresno State. By Owen Main

Faith Mimnaugh’s Cal Poly women’s basketball team kept it entertaining. On Saturday afternoon at Mott Athletics Center, the Mustangs earned a 60-46 lead with 6:24 left in the fourth quarter and then didn’t score for nearly five minutes before the Leaupepe twins made four consecutive free throws in the final minute to ice the 64-60 win over the visiting Fresno State Bulldogs.

Cal Poly’s balanced attack was lead by Dynn Leaupepe, who came off the bench to score 12 points. Lisa Marie Sanchez and Beth Balbierz scored 11 apiece and Hannah Gilbert chipped in 10 points and 9 rebounds.

Fresno State kept themselves in the game, hitting 88 percent from the free throw line (21-24), but Cal Poly’s big fourth quarter lead was too much to overcome in the end.

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Photos by Owen Main

Brian Bennett led Cal Poly with 15 points and 8 rebounds. By Owen Main

In their final home game before the start of the Big West Conference Season in January, Cal Poly went on a 17-0 first-half run and 9-0 run to start the second half to put the game out of reach, beating Menlo College 72-35 at Mott Athletics Center.

Brian Bennett led Cal Poly with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Joel Awich scored a career-high 13 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Reese Morgan scored 11 points off the bench for Cal Poly, who has now won their three home games and lost their three road games this season.

Skyler Sexton led the Oaks with 11 points on 3-6 shooting from behind the arc.

Cal Poly had an early 30-point lead in the second half and was able to empty their bench and play everyone who was available. All ten players who played for the Mustangs scored in the game.

The Mustangs only shot 39 percent from the field and 25 percent from 3-point range, but out-rebounded Menlo 51-26 in the game.

History converges

Cal Poly’s first victory as a Division I program came in 1994-95 against Menlo College. Their 250th as a D-I program came Saturday night, also against Menlo College. To make it even more tidy, eight of the nine players and an assistant coach who finished the ’94-’95 season for Cal Poly were honored at halftime of Saturday’s game.

The Mustangs are now 6-0 all-time against Menlo and 32-1 all-time against non-Division I opponents.

Nwaba gets a rest

Junior forward and leading scorer, David Nwaba sat for Cal Poly after suffering a concussion in practice this week. Nwaba is averaging 13.4 points through the teams first five games.

A shade of gray

Cal Poly broke out another alternate uniform color on Saturday, showing off their new all-gray jerseys. The gray contrasts nicely with the green lettering and it’s possible that the gray also helps my camera to focus better on players as they move.

The gray uniforms mean that Cal Poly now has four options — white, green, black, and gray.

Joel Awich scored a career-high 13 points. By Owen Main

Awich gets it going

Joel Awich, who has now started all six games for Cal Poly this year, came in averaging just 5.2 points per game. On Saturday, he scored a career-high 13 points. If Cal Poly is going to be competitive in the Big West this season, Awich will have to continue to be a bigger factor on offense.

Alumni Weekend

On their alumni weekend, the men’s basketball program honored the first ever Division I team from 1994-95. That inaugural team had twin 13-game losing streaks and their only win of the season was a closely-contested contest against the same Menlo College who the Mustangs beat again on Saturday.

On Friday night, the team hosted a dinner honoring the 1994-95 team. Players 20 years removed from the first Division I season reflected on the difficulties of the season and the bonds that playing together at Cal Poly formed.

A podcast with Dave Dinee, the point guard on that team and unofficial spokesperson, is scheduled to be released later this week.

After the game, Callero reflected on what it meant to have the team from 20 years ago on campus this weekend.

“They persevered through a 1-26 season and we honor them for that,” said Callero. “People say, ‘How do you honor a team that went 1-26?’ Well, who better to honor? They finished the season. They started off with 15 [players], they finished it with nine, and that perseverance reminds me a lot of our team last year, who I don’t think many people had much faith in… . That team in ’94-’95 had to persevere through and through and through. They’re all still close together these days, they keep in touch, and I think for them to talk to our guys about that commitment to each other that commitment to your school, that commitment to your coaching staff and keep working, regardless of what’s happening, I think there’s some similarities to what we believe in… . Until it’s over, we’re fighting all the way to the end.”

Photos by Owen Main

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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Hannah Gilbert had career highs of 16 points and 11 rebounds. By Owen Main

On Saturday afternoon at Mott Athletics Center, Cal Poly women’s basketball used a surge late in the first half to erase most of a 14-point deficit and kept the momentum going into the second half to beat Portland 76-67 in their home opener.

Ariana Elegado led the Mustangs’ attack with 19 points and five assists. Sophomore center Hannah Gilbert notched career-high totals of 16 points and 11 rebounds. Gilbert, who hails from Morro Bay High School, has taken the place of departed Big West Player of the Year winner Molly Schlemer in this year’s lineup.

Senior Kristin Ale, who looked a step quicker and a bit more aggressive on the offensive end than she did a season ago, also tallied 16 points in the game.

The early 14-point deficit came on the heels of a 15-4 Portland run during which Cal Poly missed 12 of 14 shots and four straight free throws. Eventually the Mustangs

The first half was one of the slowest halves I’ve seen. In it, Cal Poly drew 7 offensive fouls from Portland and the officials called 27 fouls. Once the game settled down and got some flow in the second half, Cal Poly was able to take control. With Elegado pushing the ball, freshman sisters Lynn and Dynn Leaupepe played strong defense and got out on the break.

Gilbert used her speed as well to beat her post counterparts down the court, setting-up Cal Poly’s wing players to get open for shots and drives.

Cal Poly, which plays four games at home this week is now 2-1 on the season. The Mustangs host Pepperdine on Tuesday at 7:00. On Friday and Saturday, the Mustangs will host Dartmouth and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Those games will start at 5:00 pm.

Photos by Owen Main

To view on iPhone or iPad, click here.