UCSB women’s basketball team beats The Beach to secure Big West Tourney spot

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Women's Basketball team (16-11, 10-7 Big West) secured their spot at The Big West Championship with a 73-58 win over Long Beach State (13-12, 9-7 Big West) at the Thunderdome on Saturday night. Olivia Bradley and Jessica Grant led the way for the Gauchos, scoring 18 points each off the bench. For Bradley, the mark is a new career high, and the Aussie added 11 rebounds for her first career double-double.

FROM HEAD COACH RENEE JIMENEZ
"I thought this was a big growth moment for us," Jimenez said. "I think we're starting to look like our team, I think this is where we thought we would be. We've taken some dips and dives to get here, but tonight felt like the first night — I thought Long Beach came to play this time. There, I think we kind of cheap-shotted them and they rolled over. I thought they were prepared, and this was probably one of their better games. The biggest growth moment with our team was whatever shot they threw at us, we answered back.

"Liv (Bradley) had 16 and five at halftime. That was huge for us. I thought she played fearless, and that gave the group confidence, and then Jess (Grant) came in and got yelled at by me to shoot it and then just went on an absolute barrage. I don't know why you would play zone with Jess in, but we'll take it … Really happy for these two. It was really impressive what these guys did, but the name of the game for us was rebounding. They came in and punched us early, and then we were winning the boards by halftime. I mean, we knew that was going to be the key to this game so, again, really happy for these two especially, but our team, I thought we showed a lot of growth tonight."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first half of Saturday's game belonged to Bradley, who scored 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 2-of-2 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes. Anya Choice gave the Gauchos an early lead with a three-pointer just after the three-minute mark and put the home side back in front, 9-8, with a layup a little later. But as the clock ticked later and later into the first quarter, Bradley started to take over. After a short Long Beach State run, she made a layup then drained a three-pointer to put the Gauchos back in front, 16-15, and from that point on the Gauchos would not relinquish their advantage.

The Australian really took over in the second quarter, dropping nine points in the frame to help Santa Barbara take a firm hold of the game. She started it with two from the free-throw line, then Cayla Williams did the same the next time down. After that, Zoe Borter made back-to-back baskets before it was back to Bradley for seven of the Gauchos' next eight points. When she hit her second three-pointer of the game with just under two minutes until halftime, it gave Santa Barbara an eight-point lead. Two Alyssa Marin free throws stretched that advantage to 10 by the buzzer.

Long Beach State came out of the break hot, cutting the deficit to four points inside the first four minutes of the half, prompting a Gaucho timeout. Out of that timeout, Grant found her form from deep. In the span of just under four minutes, the Gauchos went Grant three-pointer, Bradley miss, Bradley layup, Grant three-pointer, Grant three-pointer, Grant three-pointer, amounting to a 14-2 run. By the end of the frame, Santa Barbara led by 12 points, 56-44.

Grant was not done tormenting the Beach in the fourth quarter, as she kicked off the final 10 minutes with her fifth three-pointer of the evening. Long Beach State slowly crawled back, getting within 10 points with just under five minutes left, but Grant put the Gauchos back up by 13 with three-ball number six shortly afterwards. From then on, the Beach only got within 10 one more time, but never closer than that. Skylar Burke scored six of her 11 points in the game's final quarter, and Marin went 4-of-4 from the charity stripe down the stretch to help keep the Beach at bay. With Long Beach fouling and the Gaucho defense holding, Santa Barbara actually finished the game on a 5-0 run.

FROM THE STUDENT ATHLETES
Jessica Grant on shooting the ball with confidence: "The thing about our team is we're always instilling confidence in each other, even when we're missing shots or something, we're always telling each other, 'shoot the next one, shoot the next one,'" Grant said. "I'm always thinking shoot first, and that's what my coaches and teammates are telling me all the time. Like coach was saying earlier, I get pulled out if I don't shoot those."

Olivia Bradley on her recent run of form: "I think [I would attribute it] to just the way our team's been playing in the last few games," Bradley said. "Our wins have been stacking, and we move the ball so well and we have so many threats, it just makes life easier for me. We can isolate me from the elbow because we have Jess on the floor, and she's dragging two defenders, so just having so many threats on the floor gives opportunities to other people, and that's how I've been taking advantage."

BY THE NUMBERS
Bradley's big night was coming; she has now set a new season-high points total in each of her last three games: 12 against UC Riverside, 14 at Cal State Fullerton and now 18 against Long Beach State.
Grant has actually made more field goals than her six on Saturday night, sinking seven on the road at UC Davis back in January, but she set a new career best for three-point makes on Saturday. All six of Grant's field goals against the Beach were from beyond the arc.
The Gauchos continued their excellent free-throw shooting on Saturday night, going 22-of-24 at the line. Both Williams and Marin scored all of their points from the charity stripe in the game.

UP NEXT
Santa Barbara secured a berth in The Big West Championship with their win on Saturday but have three regular-season games left to play before then, with the opportunity to improve their seeding in the tournament. Next up is a visit to Cal Poly on Thursday, Feb. 27, then Senior Day at the Thunderdome on Saturday, March 1 against CSUN.

(Article courtesy UCSB Athletics).