UC Santa Barbara’s first women’s basketball loss in nearly two months — plus the loss of the point guard who helped engineer that nine-game winning streak — lit a fire under the Gauchos on Saturday.
They exploded for 26 points in the first quarter and never slowed down in an 88-70 romp past Cal State Northridge at the Thunderdome.
“We needed to think emotionally,” UCSB coach Renee Jimenez said. “We needed to get over that hump of like, ‘We don’t have Maddie (Naro), but we still got to believe that we can do this.’”
Naro, who hurt her shoulder during Thursday’s 62-61 defeat to Cal State Fullerton, will receive an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of her injury.
“It’s one thing when you lose the game,” Jimenez said. “It’s another thing when you lose your starting point guard.
“The big thing for us was trying to fill Maddie’s biggest buckets, which were communication, energy, poise … all the things that she brings.
“I thought they did a great job of that today.”
UCSB (11-2, 3-1 Big West Conference), which is ranked second nationally in three-point accuracy (39.7%) and third in threes per game (10.3), did most of its damage on Saturday from closer range.
The Gauchos out-scored the Matadors in the paint, 50-30.
They were led by their bookend forwards, with sophomore Olivia Bradley scoring 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting and junior Zoe Borter adding 17.
UCSB surged to a 47-31 lead by halftime by out-shooting CSUN 60% to 40.7%. The Gauchos shot 57.1% for the game.
Erika Aspajo led the Matadors (5-8, 1-3 Big West) with 19 points.
Although the Gauchos’ six three-point baskets were their fewest since the November 6 loss at third-ranked UCLA, Jessica Grant made 4-of-5 of her long shots for 12 points.
The senior guard, who took Naro’s spot in the starting lineup, now has 200 threes in her career to rank fifth in the UCSB record books. She needs 33 more to match the school record set by Erin Alexander in 1996.
Grant’s three-point accuracy of 49.3% this season is also on pace to break the Gaucho mark of 47.3% set by Erin Buescher in 1998-99.
UCSB committed a season-high 27 turnovers on Thursday against Fullerton’s pressing defense, but Skylar Burke and Zoe Shaw settled down the playmaking in Naro’s absence on Saturday.
Burke finished with 14 points, four assists and three steals while Shaw contributed 12 points, three assists, and four rebounds.
“(Northridge) tried to press us — oh, I knew that was going to happen — but they can’t do it the same way that Fullerton can,” Jimenez said. “I thought we handled it really well.”
Freshman Chauncey Andersen logged 18 minutes — her most playing time since the third game of the season — and responded with seven points on 3-for-5 shooting and five rebounds.
Bojana Radnjic, a sophomore from Montenegro, played a season-high 12 minutes.
“They’re all going to have to start coming to the party a little bit, and we’re going to have to fast forward their progress there,” Jimenez said. “Usually you want to take the young kids really slow and I’m like, ‘Here you go.’
“We’re going to have to live through some of those mistakes, but I thought everybody came in and did their part.”
UCSB will return to action on Thursday at UC Davis.