Basketball season has arrived, and the UCSB women’s basketball team will feature plenty of fresh faces on the court after graduating seven seniors from last year’s team.
In year one of the Renee Jimenez era, the Gauchos were formidable—finishing 18-13 overall and 12-8 in Big West Conference play—despite having very little time to implement a new system. Year two will feature a more intentional approach.
“Last year we obviously had seven seniors and a really veteran group, but I think sometimes when you have that many seniors, it’s really hard to implement an entirely new basketball system,” Jimenez said. “You’re just trying to work with what you have, and I thought we did a really good job of that.”
If the Gauchos are going to be even better this season, it will be based on the lessons learned from the rigors of Big West Conference play.
Jimenez and her staff have added talented players to the roster who fit the style of play they believe will help the team contend for a Big West Championship in the future.
“Going through the Big West and kind of understanding what you need to win really changed our recruiting philosophy,” Jimenez said. “We tried to fill some voids we felt we were lacking in compared to the top three or four teams in the conference.”
At the top of the list of newcomers are transfers Maddie Naro from Santa Clara and Zoey Shaw from St. Bonaventure.
Naro comes from an incredible basketball lineage as the granddaughter of former Sacramento Kings coach Rick Adelman and the niece of current Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman. She takes a cerebral approach to the game as a true point guard.
“Maddie is a basketball savant. She’s an old-school point guard who has changed the entire locker room and culture of our team,” Jimenez said. “She really does a great job commanding the floor for us. I’m expecting really big things from Maddie.”
Shaw averaged 11.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game in her freshman season at St. Bonaventure and was the only player to start all 30 games. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Shaw’s scoring punch will be a welcome addition.
Two freshmen who figure to be mainstays in the rotation are Chuncey Anderson and Ava Rawlins.
Anderson is a 6’0” guard who averaged 26 points per game in her senior season at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon. She fits the profile of big, efficient guards that Jimenez covets.
Rawlins is a 5’10” guard who was the Sierra Foothill League MVP her senior year. She won four league titles and one section title during her high school career.
“People will see them play this year, and that’s something early on you don’t typically know for freshmen,” Jimenez said. “They were highly touted recruits out of high school, so we’re excited to have them.”
Zoe Borter, Skylar Burke, Olivia Bradley, and Jessica Grant are key returning players from last year’s team who will look to assume leadership roles and fill the void left by the departing seniors.
“That’s what you want coming back. Those are the players I would recruit anyway,” Jimenez said. “Borter went from a freshman who played eight to ten minutes to someone I couldn’t take off the court. She just fits my style really well and our philosophy.”
Burke was honored as Big West Player of the Year last season, averaging 10.4 points and 6.6 rebounds.
“Between the three transfers, the two freshmen, and what we have coming back, we feel like we’ve put something together that will be fun for people to watch,” Jimenez said.
The Gauchos will open the regular season against Cal State Monterey Bay on Monday, November 3, at the Thunderdome, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. Their first road game is on Thursday, November 6, at UCLA.
You must be logged in to post a comment.