Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
17-15
California
18-16
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 23 | 42 | 65 |
| Colorado | 50 | 31 | 81 |
Buffs Put Away Bears, Face Wyoming Next
March 21, 2011 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER - Sometimes it all comes together early - or as Linda Lappe reflected, "I told our team they had a nice aura about them . . . if you believe in that."
Nice aura, good vibe, extra fine juju . . . whatever. Brittany Spears and the Colorado Buffaloes had something special at the opening tip. They started brilliantly Monday night and finished not far below that, eliminating future Pac-12 opponent California 81-65 in the second round of the WNIT.
Trailing by 27 points at halftime, Cal (18-16) attempted a second-half recovery, but never got closer than 14 in the final minute - and by then CU (17-15) was awaiting word on its third-round WNIT opponent. It will be Wyoming on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Laramie, putting the Buffs on the road for the first time in nine WNIT games. Wyoming advanced by defeating Oklahoma State 75-71 Monday night.
"We came out of the gates firing and didn't take our foot off of the gas pedal for the first half . . . we never let up," said Lappe, whose team got 19 first-half points from Spears (33 total, a season high) and raced to its biggest halftime advantage of the season, 50-23, and its most points since scoring 53 last season against Southern Utah.
"I think we all came in focused and ready to play," said Spears, whose point total was only three below her career high set as a sophomore. She also contributed nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Four turnovers were easily forgiven.
"I thought she attacked the rim early and I though that's what she needed to do," Lappe said of CU's career scoring leader. "She made some nice finishes and she was just on it in all phases, made some good decisions and hit some key shots when we needed them. Her teammates did a nice job of finding her . . . and she did a nice job of capitalizing."
In addition to Spears' output, CU got 16 points from Brittany Wilson, 13 from Meagan Malcolm-Peck and 11 from Chucky Jeffery. The Buffs shot 57.4 percent from the field (31-of-54), hit 10-of-22 three-pointers (one below their season high) and out-rebounded the Bears 34-26 - a point of emphasis for Lappe and her staff against a bigger opponent.
"I know we were ready to play Cal," said Lappe, who might not have foreseen such readiness after an uninspired Sunday practice. "This was a game we had been looking forward to and we didn't have a great practice (Sunday); we weren't as focused as I would have hoped. But I thought our players really responded."
Conversely, the Bears "just came out flat," said Coach Joanne Boyle. "I have never seen my team come out that flat before . . . I think we came out shell-shocked. I think Colorado did a great job.
"They came out on their home floor, came out and attacked us and got us back on our heels. We recovered - but 20 minutes too late to even make it a game."
The focus the Buffs were missing Sunday returned in Monday's all-business shootaround, said Jeffery: "Everybody did well in shootaround and we weren't goofing around in warm-ups . . . we were ready to go."
And they went hard from the opening whistle, running at every opportunity, racing to a 7-0 lead and putting Cal in a catch-up mode for the next 38 minutes. By halftime, the Buffs were up by 27 and Lappe's chief concern might have been the 19-point second-half lead her team almost squandered in its first-round victory against UC-Riverside. The Highlanders closed to two before the Buffs regrouped for a 71-62 win.
But, as Lappe pointed out, Monday night's game "wasn't the same feel as Riverside . . . we had a lull in the second half and were back on our heels."
Spears (and others) didn't allow the Buffs to assume that position against the Bears, who got 15 second-half points from scrappy guard Layshia Clarendon but in reality were doomed by intermission.
Just over halfway through the second half, Cal - playing more zone defense after the Buffs shredded a man-to-man - had cut CU's advantage to 59-44 on a layup by Eliza Pierre. On the Bears' next possession, Jeffery blocked another Pierre layup attempt, leading to a three-pointer by Malcolm-Peck that restored the Buffs' lead to 18 (64-46).
Jeffery followed with a conventional three-point play, Spears followed that with a three-pointer (her fourth) from the left corner . . . and CU was back in front by 22 (68-46) with 9:02 to play. The Buffs weren't about to revisit their first-round lapse against the Highlanders.
Brittany Wilson scored 12 of her 16 points in the first half, hitting all three of her treys in the first 20 minutes. Her explanation of her team's focus and fast start: "We knew we were going to see that team next year in the Pac-12, so we had to send them a statement."
Cal's starting lineup featured four sophomores and a freshman, with two of the sophomores being heralded posts DeNesha Stallworth (12 points) and Talia Caldwell (11). Both were touted as physical players, but Spears & Co. apparently didn't buy it.
"We play in the Big 12, which is the best conference in the (NCAA)," Spears said. "They're in the Pac-10 right now, and they're good, but they aren't as physical as the teams in the Big 12. We are used to the physicality . . . it's just another game."
And it sends CU to Laramie to play yet another game.
Lappe, who has played and coached there, called Wyoming "a great women's basketball environment. Their fans are going to come out. The good thing is that we have a couple of members of our coaching staff (Jonas Chatterton, Dan Doerflein, both BYU imports) that have coached against them their whole careers in the Mountain West. They know (Wyoming's) style of play, know what they do to be successful and really how to beat them."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
