UCSB is Sharp at the Point Again as Maddie Naro Leads 72-56 Victory Over Long Beach State

Maddie Naro may be playing with a damaged left shoulder, but her right one was strong enough to carry a big load for the UC Santa Barbara women’s basketball team on Saturday at the Thunderdome.

The junior transfer from Santa Clara shot the Gauchos out of some early doldrums with a career-high five three-pointers in their 72-56 victory over Long Beach State.

Coach Renee Jimenez described playing without her junior point guard for three games this month as, “Like trying to drive a car without a steering wheel.”

Naro’s 17 points and Olivia Bradley’s game-high 20 helped move UCSB (15-3, 7-2 Big West Conference) to within a game of league co-leaders UC San Diego (8-1) and UC Irvine (8-1).

But Jimenez wasn’t happy that her Gauchos, who led by as many as 28 points with 8:40 to go, allowed Long Beach (2-17, 1-8 Big West) to stay in the game by shooting 50% in the second half.

Sophomore JaQuoia Jones-Brown led the Beach with a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds.

“They love scoring,” Jimenez said of her players. “You try to tell your teams to not focus on the offensive end, but clearly for this team it’s kind of what gets them going.

“We’ve got to grow a little bit … Those games where you really have to buckle down and get stops, we haven’t had to do that. Nobody has really forced us to do that.

“But we’re heading into a gantlet of games right now, until the end of the season, where we’re going to have to grind games out and be really disciplined defensively.”

That gantlet includes next Thursday’s home game against first-place UC San Diego.

Offense was an issue early when UCSB missed its first seven shots, five of which were three-point attempts.

The Gauchos, who were second in the nation in three-point shooting at 39.74% just five games ago, had dropped to 22nd nationally at 36.3% before Saturday’s game.

It dropped further with Saturday’s 30.6% performance, and that was with Naro making 5-of-9.

UCSB needed five free throws in nearly the first five minutes to keep the Beach within reach at 6-5.

The Gauchos didn’t get their first basket until Julia Puente-Valverde converted a layup for a 7-6 lead with 4:52 left in the first quarter. They never trailed again.

They were 0-for-7 from three until Naro — in just her third game back from injury — broke the spell with back-to-back bombs late in the first quarter.

She added a runner and another three to get UCSB’s lead into double-digits, 22-11, with 8:49 left in the second quarter.

“Maddie just adds a different grit to our team, besides being a point guard,” Jimenez said. “We had 18 assists today, and although she only had three, she probably got us 15 shots.

“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well but just having Maddie’s presence on the floor is super-helpful.”

Zoe Shaw joined the three-point fun with a trio of triples to send the Gauchos into halftime with a 37-18 lead.

Zoe Borter, UCSB’s leading scorer on the season, was held to 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting. The Gauchos shot just 41.1% as a team.

But Bradley, the other bookend on UCSB’s front line, made 7-of-10 shots, 5-of-6 free throws and a three-pointer to lead all scorers.

“You kind of have to pick between the two of them,” Jimenez said of opposing defenses.

“Zoe can get going, but today they did a good job on Zoe throughout the game, and that really kind of opened up the game up for Liv.”

Bradley also contributed four of the Gauchos’ six blocked shots.

“Liv has great timing around the ball, so it’s great to always have her around there,” Jimenez said.

The Gaucho coach was happiest that her team out-rebounded the Beach, 40-35.

“Today was really about rebounding,” she said. “We got out-rebound the other night at (Cal Poly) SLO by like 10 by a team that doesn’t really rebound well.

“Yes, Maddie got us going and things like that, but really our focus right now is, ‘Can we dig our heels in and get stops and rebounds?’

“I thought we did that really well for 20 minutes, and then the second half we got comfortable.”

Puente-Valverde, a junior transfer from McNeese State, and freshman Chauncey Andersen led UCSB with eight rebounds apiece.

“We kind of have thrown her into the fire,” Jimenez said of Andersen. “She was like our fourth option a month ago.

“It was like day-to-day: ‘Just focus on keeping someone in front of you.’ And then it was like, ‘Here’s a six-page scout, kiddo … Like figure it out.’

“She’s a great athlete, and she adds a good dimension and mix. Chauncey will be a great Gaucho in the next three years.”