Why Long Beach State has needed JaQuoia Jones-Brown’s ascension

Last season, Jones-Brown played in 30 games as a freshman, starting eight, averaging 24 minutes per game. This season, she has started all ten games for the Beach and has more than doubled her scoring average, going from 7.1 points to 16.5 points.

According to Long Beach State head coach Amy Wright, Jones-Brown’s big leap has come out of necessity. The team lost four of its top-five scorers from last season, and the fifth, forward Mykelle Richards, is currently sidelined due to injury. They’ve needed all of the offense Jones-Brown has provided.

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“I don’t think she’s had a choice. Last year, we had a couple of scorers. Sav [Savannah Tucker] led the conference in scoring. So she was able to kind of take her cues from there,” Wright said following Long Beach State’s loss to UCLA on Saturday. “Right now, we’re still trying to find pieces that will fit around JaQuoia. We knew it was there.”

In addition to Jones-Brown’s scoring average, she’s also pulling down 6.3 rebounds per game and dishing out 2.3 assists. Her defense has been solid as well, and she’s disrupting offenses to the tune of 1.4 steals.

Sometimes, with increased usage, a player’s shooting efficiency can suffer. But Jones-Brown has mostly maintained her efficiency with the added offensive responsibility. She shot 41.4% from the field as a freshman and is shooting 39.6% this season. Her 3-point percentage has stayed consistent at 33.3%.

And that’s with her taking more shots. She’s upped her shot attempts from 6.4 to 14.9 this season. She’s taking 2.7 attempts from 3-point range, up from 1.7 last year. Long Beach State has winter break coming up, but that won’t stop Jones-Brown from being in the gym, continuing to get better.

”I just stay in the gym, whether it’s during practice or out of practice. In the mornings, I work out with the coaches. I know we have a break coming up, but I’m probably gonna be in the gym,” Jones-Brown said following the UCLA game. “I just stay in the gym so I can work on my game. I know my team is depending on me, so I know I have to stay in the gym.”

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Against UCLA, Jones-Brown was once again Long Beach State’s leading scorer. She finished with ten points, three rebounds, one assist and two steals in 34 minutes. However, she didn’t shoot particularly well, going 4-of-18 from the field and 0-of-3 from 3-point range.

But as far as the overall process, Wright liked what she saw from her star. In fact, there are times when she’s wanted Jones-Brown to assert herself even more on the offensive end.

“She’s such an unselfish teammate that sometimes, you want her to shoot a little bit more. Towards the end, I was trying to get her going, just to get a couple more shots up and feel good going into Monday’s game,” Wright said. “But she’s done a great job embracing it. She does the unrequired work. She’s kind of everything you want in a player.”

And against UCLA, Jones-Brown certainly embraced the challenge in front of her. There were a few possessions where she found herself among the towering frontline that the Bruins trot out on a nightly basis. With 6’7 Lauren Betts, 6’4 Angela Dugalic and 6’4 Sienna Betts as the current frontcourt rotation, UCLA creates a matchup nightmare for most teams.

But in typical Jones-Brown fashion, she was unfazed by the competition she faced. Half of her made shots came in the paint, and both of them early as she tried to help set the tone for her team. No matter who is in front of her, the 5’6 guard always brings her competitive fire.

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”I’m a short little thing, but I’m always competitive. Whether you’re 6’7 or however tall they are, I’m just always competing,” Jones-Brown said. “It doesn’t matter how tall they are or how tall I am; I just always compete. It felt good to play against them, seeing how tall they were and how little I was. But I still got a rebound, so that’s an accomplishment.”

But even with Jones-Brown’s ascension, Long Beach State has struggled to get a win. It dropped to 0-10 following the loss to UCLA and is 0-2 to start Big West Conference play.

As the Beach continues to try and establish an identity with a month and a half of the season gone by, Wright is confident her team will get there eventually, with Jones-Brown leading the way.

”She does have her little things here and there. We got to get a better left hand, we got to finish the layups,” Wright said. “But she’s a great building block. She’s only a sophomore; she’s a baby. She’s got a long way to go.”