![\"Zoe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/012426-Zoe-Shaw.jpeg\")
Zoe Shaw made 3-of-8 three-pointers and handed out four assists in UCSB\u2019s basketball win over Long Beach State on Saturday. Credit: Jeff Liang \/ UCSB Athletics Photo<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tOverview:<\/p>\n
UCSB sophomore Olivia Bradley scored 20 points while making 7-of-10 shots and blocking four of Long Beach State\u2019s attempts<\/p>\n
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\u2019s basketball team on Saturday at the Thunderdome.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Coach Renee Jimenez described playing without her junior point guard for three games this month as, \u201cLike trying to drive a car without a steering wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naro\u2019s 17 points and Olivia Bradley\u2019s 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).<\/p>\n
But Jimenez wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Sophomore JaQuoia Jones-Brown led the Beach with a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey love scoring,\u201d Jimenez said of her players. \u201cYou try to tell your teams to not focus on the offensive end, but clearly for this team it\u2019s kind of what gets them going.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to grow a little bit \u2026 Those games where you really have to buckle down and get stops, we haven\u2019t had to do that. Nobody has really forced us to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we\u2019re heading into a gantlet of games right now, until the end of the season, where we\u2019re going to have to grind games out and be really disciplined defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zoe Shaw made 3-of-8 three-pointers and handed out four assists in UCSB\u2019s basketball win over Long Beach State on Saturday. Credit: Jeff Liang \/ UCSB Athletics Photo<\/p>\n
That gantlet includes next Thursday\u2019s home game against first-place UC San Diego.<\/p>\n
Offense was an issue early when UCSB missed its first seven shots, five of which were three-point attempts.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
It dropped further with Saturday\u2019s 30.6% performance, and that was with Naro making 5-of-9.<\/p>\n
UCSB needed five free throws in nearly the first five minutes to keep the Beach within reach at 6-5.<\/p>\n
The Gauchos didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
They were 0-for-7 from three until Naro \u2014 in just her third game back from injury \u2014 broke the spell with back-to-back bombs late in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
She added a runner and another three to get UCSB\u2019s lead into double-digits, 22-11, with 8:49 left in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaddie just adds a different grit to our team, besides being a point guard,\u201d Jimenez said. \u201cWe had 18 assists today, and although she only had three, she probably got us 15 shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t shoot the ball particularly well but just having Maddie\u2019s presence on the floor is super-helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zoe Shaw joined the three-point fun with a trio of triples to send the Gauchos into halftime with a 37-18 lead.<\/p>\n
Zoe Borter, UCSB\u2019s leading scorer on the season, was held to 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting. The Gauchos shot just 41.1% as a team.<\/p>\n
But Bradley, the other bookend on UCSB\u2019s front line, made 7-of-10 shots, 5-of-6 free throws and a three-pointer to lead all scorers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou kind of have to pick between the two of them,\u201d Jimenez said of opposing defenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cZoe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley also contributed four of the Gauchos\u2019 six blocked shots.<\/p>\n
![\"UCSB's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/012426-Olivia-Bradley.jpeg\")
UCSB\u2019s Olivia Bradley points toward Jessica Grant after her teammate assisted her three-point basket during the opening minutes of the second half in Saturday\u2019s women\u2019s basketball game against Long Beach State. Credit: Jeff Liang \/ UCSB Athletics Photo<\/p>\n
\u201cLiv has great timing around the ball, so it\u2019s great to always have her around there,\u201d Jimenez said.<\/p>\n
The Gaucho coach was happiest that her team out-rebounded the Beach, 40-35.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was really about rebounding,\u201d she said. \u201cWe got out-rebound the other night at (Cal Poly) SLO by like 10 by a team that doesn\u2019t really rebound well.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Maddie got us going and things like that, but really our focus right now is, \u2018Can we dig our heels in and get stops and rebounds?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we did that really well for 20 minutes, and then the second half we got comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Puente-Valverde, a junior transfer from McNeese State, and freshman Chauncey Andersen led UCSB with eight rebounds apiece.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of have thrown her into the fire,\u201d Jimenez said of Andersen. \u201cShe was like our fourth option a month ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like day-to-day: \u2018Just focus on keeping someone in front of you.\u2019 And then it was like, \u2018Here\u2019s a six-page scout, kiddo \u2026 Like figure it out.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a great athlete, and she adds a good dimension and mix. Chauncey will be a great Gaucho in the next three years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Overview: UCSB sophomore Olivia Bradley scored 20 points while making 7-of-10 shots and blocking four of Long Beach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-148620","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}