Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
10-3
Yale
4-8
Malcolm-Peck Resurfaces, Leads CU Past Yale
January 04, 2010 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Colorado freshman Meagan Malcolm-Peck had an immediate answer for her scoreless performance on Saturday in the Buffaloes' loss to nationally-ranked Virginia.
Atonement - in a big, big way - came Monday night as Malcom-Peck scored a career-best 19 points to help prod the Buffs past the stubborn Yale Bulldogs, 78-71.
Fellow freshman Chucky Jeffery tied a career high with 19, junior Brittany Spears added 15 and senior Bianca Smith came off the bench to contribute 10.
Jeffery also tied her career best in assists (nine of CU's 18) and steals (five of CU's 11) and collected seven rebounds.
"To tell you the truth, I didn't even think about (her scoreless Saturday)," Malcolm-Peck said. "In the game, I wasn't thinking, 'Oh, I've got to score,' or anything like that.
"I definitely have to focus on finishing around the basket and knocking down shots and tonight, rebounding. (But) going scoreless is always an extra push just to finish your shots . . . I had been struggling with my shot, so it was good to see some go down."
CU finished the non-conference portion of its schedule with a 10-3 record, including a 9-1 mark at the Coors Events Center. Yale lost its fifth consecutive game and fell to 4-8.
The Buffs open Big 12 Conference play Saturday against Missouri (Events Center, noon, FSN), and maybe that was part of their early problem - Yale being sandwiched between Saturday's encounter with No. 23 Virginia (a 74-59 loss) and the league opener.
"It was a tough time to have this game - no question," noted CU coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, adding after the emotionally taxing loss to the Cavaliers she spoke to the Buffs about "what type of team we are, what we want to be and how we want to respond. We are very happy with this win."
Yet for whatever reason, CU was out-hustled, out-worked and most definitely out-rebounded in Monday's first half. At one point, the Bulldogs had out-boarded the Buffs 13-4. The first half ended with Yale holding a 28-14 advantage; the game ended with Yale on top 45-35.
McConnell-Miller called rebounding "absolutely a concern," while Yale coach Chris Gobrecht said her team rebounds well "because we work. We play a style that moves you around the floor and moves you out of position. We're a good rebounding team."
One plausible reason for CU's early board problems: Courtney Dunn, the Buffs' 6-foot-4 center, picked up two fouls in the first two minutes and went to the bench for the remaining 18.
Mainly because of that major rebounding deficit, CU never led in the first 20 minutes and managed only two ties. The Bulldogs led by a point (34-33) at the break, and the Buffs might have felt fortunate to have been that close.
Gobrecht substituted freely, taking a wholesale approach that usually featured subbing five players at a time. Still, the Buffs' bench was more productive, outscoring the Bulldogs 10-5 in the first half. But that turned after intermission and Yale's bench wound up with a 21-12 scoring advantage.
Spears, CU's top scorer (20.2 average), hit a trey for the Buffs' first points and didn't connect again before intermission. But she opened the second half with a layup that gave CU its first lead (35-34) of the night.
And the Buffs kept pushing, outscoring the Bulldogs 10-4 in the second half's first 2:49 to open a 43-36 advantage. Less than a minute later, they went up 46-38 - their largest margin of the night to that point - on a trey from the left wing by Malcolm-Peck.
By the 14:17 mark, when Malcolm-Peck drained another three and Jeffery converted a conventional three-point play, the Buffs had outscored the Bulldogs 20-7 for a 53-41 advantage.
"The only thing that changed is that we had the one dead spot," Gobrecht said. "We didn't do a good job . . . there were some key stretches there where we lost their shooters. That was the difference."
CU pushed its lead to 15 three times in the final nine minutes before Yale closed to 74-67 with 57 seconds remaining. The Buffs closed it out with four free throws by Smith and Spears in the last 47.2 seconds.
McConnell-Miller lauded the progress of Malcolm-Peck and Jeffery, the two freshmen who have contributed most during non-conference play.
She also was pleased with her team's 10-3 record as league play looms: "I'm very proud of them . . . proud of the commitment, what they've done over the summer, the addition of young players, what they bring to the program and the progress we continue to make."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
