Women's team hobbling along

Hurting. That’s the best way to describe the Cal Poly women’s basketball team.
The Mustangs lost their Big West Conference home opener Thursday, playing without starting guards Sparkle Anderson and Toni Newman because of injuries and minus Kyla Howell because of academic troubles.
Anderson is out for the year with an ACL injury. Newman is sidelined for the time being with a stress fracture.
Injuries have always been a story for the Cal Poly’s women’s basketball program.
In fact, 2005-06 was one of the few years when Faith Mimnaugh’s squad wasn’t ravaged by injuries. Aside from a foot injury that sidelined senior wing Courtney Cameron for seven games, Cal Poly remained relatively healthy throughout the season.
But in 2004-05 — a year after playing without floor leader Michelle Henke for an entire season because of a knee injury — the Mustangs were without star forward Katy Paterson for much of her senior season because of mono. They also lost starting wing Michelle Allotey to a knee injury five games in and forward Emilie Ravn, who played in just four games the previous season because of an ACL injury, missed two-thirds of the season recovering from the injury.
Both players, who would be eligible to play this season, have since left the program, joining the likes of Paige Billingsley, Caroline Rowles and Stephanie Brown as Mustangs starters who have ended their careers early because of recurring injuries.
Ouch.