Heading into the second year of head coach Shanele Stires’ tenure at Cal Poly, the Women’s Basketball program was surrounded by many questions.
Would the team be able to improve from their 10-18 season last year? Will the four returning players and nine newcomers be able to mesh? Will they have the same resilience we saw glimpses of last year? Most importantly, does this team have what it takes to ultimately win the Big West?
While the last question is still yet to be decided, it seems that the first three questions have been answered with a resounding yes.
“I think our expectations were as simple as trying to solidify our culture, solidify our values, solidify our work ethic, and solidify how hard we play,” Stires said heading into the season.
The unknowns within the program led to Cal Poly being projected to finish 8th in the preseason coaches’ poll, and not one player was selected to the preseason coaches’ team either.
With regular season play now concluded, the Mustangs certainly exceeded those expectations, finishing 4th in the Big West with a 17-12 overall record, and 13-7 in the conference play.
For individual awards, senior forward Natalia Ackerman was named to the All-Big West First Team and All-Big West Defensive Team, while junior guard Annika Shah earned Honorable Mentions.
Freshman forward Mary Carter was selected to the Big West All-Freshman Team
“One thing we consistently talk about under Coach Stires is that we expect to win,” junior guard Annika Shah said. “Everything we do, we do to win.”
Cal Poly became battle-tested very early on in its season after an extremely tough preseason slate. It started with seven straight road games, during which it faced off against three nationally ranked women’s basketball programs.
Difficult non-conference schedules have been a trend for the Mustangs. Last season, the No. 1 ranked team in the country South Carolina played against the Mustangs at Mott Athletic Center.
In an interview with The Gallop before the season, Stires stated that the tough preseason schedule would help them with the win-or-go-home atmosphere of postseason games.
“If you want to be the best, you have to play the best,” Stires said. “The goal of our program is to win games in March. If you want to win games in March, you want to compete for a Big West Championship, you want to play in the NCAA Tournament, and this preseason gets you ready to do that.”
It was in that preseason the Mustangs’ resilient spirit started to come to fruition. After a tough loss against No. 6 USC, the team responded with a huge 84-59 win over Fresno State in their first official home game.
As the season continued into conference play, the fighting spirit only became more and more apparent.
Comeback wins
The Mustangs had little going for them in their home game against Long Beach. The team was in the midst of an extended absence from Stires due to undisclosed reasons.
Throughout the first half, it was clear they were missing her presence.
The Mustangs were down 21 points in the second quarter and allowed 53 first-half points.
But in the third quarter, the Mustangs began to climb back and cut the deficit to eight points heading into the final period of regulation.
There seemed to be a new sense of life. The defense began to string together stops, and Ackerman started to dominate the game on both ends.
The 6 foot 1 forward tied the game at 72 a piece with 3:49 remaining and scored seven points in the final four minutes of game time, along with a huge block that seemed to take the life out of Long Beach State.
As Ackerman, also called “Tal” by her teammates, shot free throws to seal the game, assistant coach Samba Johnson, who filled in for Stires, could be heard yelling, “You’re a warrior Tal! A warrior!”
That warrior spirit allowed the Mustangs to erase a 21-point deficit and ultimately win the game by outsourcing Long Beach 46-23 in the second half.
Stires attributed the team’s ability to come from behind to their “resilient spirit” and the fact that the team hasn’t been together for multiple seasons and is still getting used to playing together.
With a young nucleus of players, Stires and the coaching staff have relied heavily on the four returners, Ackerman, Shah, Sydney Bourland and Sierra Lichtie to take leaps both on and off the court.
All four of them started in over 20 games during the season, and according to the team and coaches, they have been crucial in bringing the team together.
“Our motto for the year was ‘We over me,’” Bourland said.“I knew we had a great understanding of what Coach Stires wanted for us and this program, and that we could bring that and show the newcomers how it works.”
For Ackerman, this season was a true embodiment of her determination or “stick-to-it-iveness,” as Stires likes to say. Dealing with injuries throughout her Cal Poly career, Ackerman played in every game for the Mustangs this regular season and set career highs in points, rebounds, and blocks.
She went into the season with a goal of leading the Big West in blocks. Ackerman accomplished this and broke the program record for blocks in a season with 61.
How the Mustangs earned a first-round bye
In Big West play, the team never lost more than two consecutive games, and even that only took place once.
A real turning point in the season came after a devastating overtime road loss against UC Riverside. In that matchup, the Mustangs blew an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter and dropped significantly from third to a tie for fifth place in the Big West standings.
Despite the loss, the locker room was still confident heading into the next game against rival UC Santa Barbara, whom the team lost to in overtime earlier in the season.
“The biggest thing we talk about is response,” Shah said. “Whether it’s a missed shot, a turnover, how do you respond?”
The Mustangs certainly responded in a big way, defeating the Gauchos 73-64 in a game with huge postseason seeding implications. The team’s focus was evident, as they recorded a mere seven turnovers, a huge drop from their season average of 19.
“They made up their mind that they weren’t going to falter.” Stires said. “They have pride in performance. When you know you’ve let one get away, especially on a last second shot in overtime, you’re reveling at the next chance to compete.”
With their regular season now finished, the Mustangs find themselves with a first-round bye heading into the conference tournament with work left to be done.
“We haven’t exceeded our expectations because we haven’t won the Big West yet.” Lichtie said.
Their first game will be Thursday, March 14, in Henderson, Las Vegas, against the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between UC Davis and Fullerton.
If the Mustangs win, they will face Hawaii on Friday, March 15, in the tournament semi-final.
The championship will be played the following day Saturday, March 16th.