Cal faces Cal Poly SLO Sunday afternoon in its final non-conference game. This team is extremely young and rebuilding with no seniors on their roster. It's basically a frosh-soph team with 10 of its 11-player rotation made up of 8 sophomores & 2 freshmen. One junior starts.
2025-26 Women's Basketball Roster - Cal Poly
The Mustangs are fortunate that they possess two exceptional youngsters in soph SG Vanessa McManus and frosh PF Charish Thompson. These two combine for 59.3% of CP's scoring. Unfortunately, McManus has missed their last two games and Thompson was MIA for the last one. USC crushed them by 47 points without both of them. I don't know their respective health status reports for tomorrow so I will assume that they will be available.
2025-2026 Cal Poly Women's Basketball
I will review their starting lineup. Vanessa McManus is a 5-7 soph SG who plays 32 minutes per game. She's from Staten Island, New York and averages 20.1 points and 5.7 rebounds. Both are tops for the Mustangs. McManus is their top three-point shooter with 16 made over 10 games. Charish Thompson receives 29 minutes of PT. She's a 6-0 frosh PF from Texas. She scores 14.8 points & grabs 5.5 boards per game. Statistically, she is the best shooter on the Mustangs with the top FG%, 3-PT% & FT%. It would be an interesting matchup if Cal's 6-0 Texas freshman PF, Taylor Barnes, gets the assignment tomorrow.
Cal Poly doesn't have a traditional center so Nora Perez, a soph 6-0 PF from Spain, starts there. She contributes 6.6 points plus 4.7 rebounds. Madison Butcher is a 5-10 junior SG who adds 4.7 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest. She is 2nd in treys with 10. The starting point guard is Alana Goosby, a 5-7 soph who directs the team for 29 minutes and generates 4 assists per game. Her numbers are 3.6 ppg + 3.7 rpg.
Shanelle Stires is in her 4th season as the HC of Cal Poly. She likes to use her bench to keep her players fresh. A 5-10 soph SG, Jordan Billing, from Queensland, Australia, is one of the 1st to enter. She averages 2.3 points & 1.2 boards. Gabby Robinson is a 5-10 soph PG who gets 20 minutes of playing time while averaging 1.9 ppg & 1.4 rpg. A third PG is 5-9 soph Ana Hidalgo (19m) from Spain. She produces 3.1 points for the offense. Cal Poly's tallest post is 6-3 soph Gillian Bears from Spokane, WA. She tallies 2.5 points + 2.6 boards per outing. Another inside presence is 6-1 soph PF, Avery Knapp, from San Ramon Valley HS, who contributes 4.0 points & 2.0 rebounds to the cause. Finally, Katie Peiffer is a 5-10 freshman SG from Texas who posts 4.5 ppg.
The Mustang's primary weaknesses are a lack of size and sloppy ball-handling. Cal Poly is typically outrebounded (33.5/g) and gives up lots of easy baskets inside. Their young guards also yield 23.1 turnovers per game while registering only 9.9 assists. This is not a productive ratio for much success.
If Cal Poly has their dynamic duo tomorrow, I predict Cal to triumph 77-52. If star McManus is MIA, I foresee a final score of 80-40. GO BEARS!
2025-26 Women's Basketball Roster - Cal Poly
The Mustangs are fortunate that they possess two exceptional youngsters in soph SG Vanessa McManus and frosh PF Charish Thompson. These two combine for 59.3% of CP's scoring. Unfortunately, McManus has missed their last two games and Thompson was MIA for the last one. USC crushed them by 47 points without both of them. I don't know their respective health status reports for tomorrow so I will assume that they will be available.
2025-2026 Cal Poly Women's Basketball
I will review their starting lineup. Vanessa McManus is a 5-7 soph SG who plays 32 minutes per game. She's from Staten Island, New York and averages 20.1 points and 5.7 rebounds. Both are tops for the Mustangs. McManus is their top three-point shooter with 16 made over 10 games. Charish Thompson receives 29 minutes of PT. She's a 6-0 frosh PF from Texas. She scores 14.8 points & grabs 5.5 boards per game. Statistically, she is the best shooter on the Mustangs with the top FG%, 3-PT% & FT%. It would be an interesting matchup if Cal's 6-0 Texas freshman PF, Taylor Barnes, gets the assignment tomorrow.
Cal Poly doesn't have a traditional center so Nora Perez, a soph 6-0 PF from Spain, starts there. She contributes 6.6 points plus 4.7 rebounds. Madison Butcher is a 5-10 junior SG who adds 4.7 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest. She is 2nd in treys with 10. The starting point guard is Alana Goosby, a 5-7 soph who directs the team for 29 minutes and generates 4 assists per game. Her numbers are 3.6 ppg + 3.7 rpg.
Shanelle Stires is in her 4th season as the HC of Cal Poly. She likes to use her bench to keep her players fresh. A 5-10 soph SG, Jordan Billing, from Queensland, Australia, is one of the 1st to enter. She averages 2.3 points & 1.2 boards. Gabby Robinson is a 5-10 soph PG who gets 20 minutes of playing time while averaging 1.9 ppg & 1.4 rpg. A third PG is 5-9 soph Ana Hidalgo (19m) from Spain. She produces 3.1 points for the offense. Cal Poly's tallest post is 6-3 soph Gillian Bears from Spokane, WA. She tallies 2.5 points + 2.6 boards per outing. Another inside presence is 6-1 soph PF, Avery Knapp, from San Ramon Valley HS, who contributes 4.0 points & 2.0 rebounds to the cause. Finally, Katie Peiffer is a 5-10 freshman SG from Texas who posts 4.5 ppg.
The Mustang's primary weaknesses are a lack of size and sloppy ball-handling. Cal Poly is typically outrebounded (33.5/g) and gives up lots of easy baskets inside. Their young guards also yield 23.1 turnovers per game while registering only 9.9 assists. This is not a productive ratio for much success.
If Cal Poly has their dynamic duo tomorrow, I predict Cal to triumph 77-52. If star McManus is MIA, I foresee a final score of 80-40. GO BEARS!
