The Cal Poly Mustangs women's basketball team represents

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo or Cal Poly) is a public university in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States, - Cites the location of the university and shows that the university ...

, located in

San Luis Obispo, California ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

. The school's team currently competes in the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

, which they have played in since 1996, two years after joining Division I. The team plays its home games in Mott Athletics Center.

History

Cal Poly began playing women's basketball at the intercollegiate level in 1974 in the

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, with

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

-sponsored play beginning in 1981. The Mustangs have had three teams tie for the school record for wins (21) in a season: the 1981–82 squad coached by Marilyn McNeil and the 2008–09 and 2012–13 squads coached by Faith Mimnaugh. Following Sharon Chatman (1974–75) and Mary Stallard (1975–79), McNeil coached Cal Poly from 1979 to 1986 before becoming an athletics administrator on campus. In 1994, McNeil departed Cal Poly to become the athletic director at

Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its university charter, c ...

, from which she retired in 2021. Taking over after Jill Orrock (1986–95) and Karen Booker (1995–97), Mimnaugh served as head coach from 1997 to 2022. Shanele Stires, former WNBA player and head coach at Cal State East Bay, was hired as the team's seventh head coach on April 14, 2022. The furthest the team has advanced came in March 2013, when Cal Poly defeated

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63–49 to win the Big West Conference women's basketball tournament, their first conference tournament championship after two previous years of regular-season titles. Seeded 14th in their ensuing NCAA Tournament appearance, they lost 85-55 to

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in the first round. Cal Poly qualified for the semifinal round of the Big West Tournament in March 2020, but the postseason was abruptly canceled due to

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after the Mustangs had won comfortably twice in the tournament's earlier rounds. The team has made four WNIT appearances, losing to California (Berkeley) in

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2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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, and

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Division I Season-by-Season Results

NCAA tournament results

Pro Basketball Alumni

* Former Cal Poly forward Kristina Santiago won three consecutive (2013–15) Bulgarian NBL Playoffs MVP awards after leading her club, Dunav 8806, to consecutive titles. After a stint with Hapoel Rishon LeZion in Israel, Santiago rejoined Dunav 8806 in December 2013. The former All-America honorable mention then signed with Helios in Vétroz, Switzerland, before being acquired by

BC Alte Kanti Aarau BC Alte Kanti Aarau is a Swiss basketball club based in Aarau, Switzerland. The BC Alte Kanti Aarau women’s team plays in SB League Women the highest tier level of women's professional basketball in Switzerland. The men’s team plays in the ...

of the Swiss Ligue Nationale. She averaged 22.4 points (on 55.6-percent shooting) and 9.3 rebounds for Aarau in 2016-17. * Rachel Clancy, a former third-team Academic All-American, played for Real Canoe Natación in Madrid during the fall of 2011. * Molly Schlemer signed with the ChemCats Chemnitz of Germany in October 2014. In September 2015, following her All-EuroBasket rookie season, Schlemer was picked up by Urla Belediyesi Gencli in Turkey, where she was the TKBL’s third-leading scorer on the way to all-league second-team honors. Most recently in 2018, Schlemer led Edirne Belediyesi averaging 22.3 points (ranking No. 1 in the Turkish league) along with 11.7 rebounds (fourth throughout the TKBL). * In 2019, alumni Dynn Leaupepe and Lynn Leaupepe became the fourth and fifth former Mustangs women's basketball players to embark on pro careers. Dynn Leaupepe, with Basketball Klubben Amager in the Copenhagen suburb of Kastrup, Denmark, finished her rookie year winning the Dameligaen Player of the Year accolade after leading her club to the Danish title, 3-1 in a five-game series over Stevnsgade. * Meanwhile Lynn Leaupepe plays for the Sunbury Jets in Victoria, Australia. Sunbury, coached by Kennedy Kereama, trains at Boardman Stadium just over 25 miles northwest of Melbourne. * In 2021-22, former Mustang Sierra Campisano played in the preseason with the WNBA's

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

, before signing with BKG Prima in

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. She averaged 16.7 points and 6.8 rebounds as a rookie overseas. * Cal Poly graduate Kirsty Brown signed with the

Leicester Riders Leicester Riders are a British professional basketball team and the oldest club in the British Basketball League (BBL). Riders compete in the Super League Basketball (SLB). Established in 1967, the club have played in various locations around L ...

of the

Women's British Basketball League The Women's British Basketball League (WBBL) was the top-level women's basketball sports league, league in Great Britain, founded on 5 June 2014 as the women's counterpart to the British Basketball League (BBL). The league's headquarters sat in L ...

in August 2022.

USA Basketball Participants

* Laura Buehning, a first-team WBCA College Division All-American in 1982 while playing for Cal Poly, played for Team USA at the 1980

William Jones Cup The William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament (), also known as the William Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in sports, 1977 ...

in Taiwan.

References

External links

* {{Big West Conference women's basketball navbox