cal shoots for another wnit title

Cal Poly will accomplish some history on Thursday.

The Mustangs will be playing in their first postseason game in program history. They will play California in the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament at home.

Cal Poly hopes its first postseason game will be a memorable one. With a win over the Bears, the Mustangs not only pick up their first postseason victory, but they also will knock off the defending WNIT champions.

Cal certainly has other ideas. The Bears are looking to win the WNIT for the second year in a row. Last year, Cal beat Miami 73-61 in the WNIT championship game at Berkeley.

Five players from last year's championship team -- Rachelle Federico, DeNesha Stallworth, Talia Caldwell, Eliza Pierre and Layshia Clarendon -- are on this year's squad that will take a 17-15 record into Thursday's game with Cal Poly.

Federico said experience will help her team in this year's WNIT.

"It gives us tremendous confidence going into the tournament again, seeing what it feels like to do it and seeing that we have done it," Federico told the Daily Californian on Thursday. "The preparation and the mental, quick turnaround games is something that we're used to. Against a team like Cal Poly, it's almost like the first NCAA tournament round."

Cal's hopes of going to the NCAA's were diminished last week, when it lost to UCLA in the Pac-10 tournament semifinals in Los Angeles.

California started its season with a win over Rutgers, which is playing in the NCAAs this week, and was 8-3 going into Pac-10 play. But the Bears struggled in conference play, going 7-11, including a six-game losing streak. Cal beat Washington and Arizona State in the first two rounds of the Pac-10 tournament before losing to UCLA in the semifinals.

Stallworth and Clarendon are the Bears' top two scorers. Stallworth is averaging 13.6 points per game and Clarendon is averaging 12.8. Caldwell is Cal's top rebounder at 8.4 boards per game.

Federico and Rama N'Diaye are the Bears' only seniors. Federico has been with the program since her freshman year and N'Diaye returned to the team this year after redshirting last year due to knee problems.

Thursday, Cal is playing a Cal Poly team that won its first-ever share of the Big West Conference regular season championship and earned Big West Player of the Year (Rachel Clancy) and Coach of the Year (Faith Mimnaugh) awards.

The Cal Poly-Cal winner plays the winner of Colorado and UC Riverside in the second round.