Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
18-15
Wyoming
24-9
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | 39 | 31 | 70 |
| Wyoming | 28 | 30 | 58 |
Buffs Shock Cowgirls, Advance To WNIT Quarterfinals
March 24, 2011 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
LARAMIE, Wyo. - If the Colorado Buffaloes had forgotten how much fun the postseason could be, it's coming back to them pretty fast.
Surprising and suddenly with-it CU won its third consecutive WNIT game here Thursday night, stunning Wyoming 70-58 to advance to the tournament's quarterfinals. Drawing a future Pac-12 opponent for the second time, the Buffs will play Southern California on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Coors Events Center, where CU played its first- and second-round WNIT games. (The Buffs defeated UC-Riverside 71-62 and California 81-65.)
Sunday's quarterfinal game should have the Buffs' full attention. USC defeated CU 68-54 in the Women of Troy Holiday Tournament in December, but the Buffs believe they're a different team - and the Cowgirls would be forced to agree after losing for only the fourth time this season (14 wins) in their Arena Auditorium (15,028 capacity).
The saucer-shaped venue was about half-full Thursday night, the third-round WNIT game drawing a season-high 7,247 after Wyoming had averaged 3,552 in the regular season. Half full or not, the volume was turned to the max.
"It was kind of nerve-wracking at times . . . I don't think I've ever played in any gym louder than that," CU sophomore guard Chucky Jeffery said. "It was pretty exciting - and pretty fun to make it go quiet, too."
The Buffs administered the silent treatment early. Senior Brittany Spears scored 19 of her team-best 23 points in the first half as CU (18-15) rolled to a 39-28 halftime lead. Wyoming (24-9) closed to within three points in the second half, but the Buffs turned deaf ears to the homefolk, regained their composure after a couple of slips and never lost the lead.
"The Nebraska game (a 64-61 CU win in Lincoln) really helped us out . . . it was Senior Night and they had about 5,000 there," said Coach Linda Lappe, whose team has won six of eight games since Feb. 23. "But this was completely different. I don't know that I've been in a building that was louder than this one . . . the crowd was into it and for us not to give up the lead was just huge. You have to give our players a lot of credit. We lost our composure for a little period of time and then we were able to regain it."
It happened with a collective effort. In addition to Spears' total, Jeffery added 16 points and freshman guard Brittany Wilson 15. But there were a handful of "step up" plays in the final half by other players that made the difference - a layup and a three-pointer by senior Britney Blythe, a three-point play by junior Julie Seabrook, a steal and layup under the Cowboys basket by Brittany Wilson, all coming when CU was desperately trying to hold a lead it had taken at 19-16.
"That's a huge part of how we've grown," Lappe said. "At the beginning of the year we didn't have players doing that, players who were ready to step up. Now, it doesn't matter who it is, everybody's ready to step up. They're not waiting for other people, they're taking it on themselves in the right way without being selfish."
In addition to her offensive work, Jeffery did a defensive job on Wyoming's Aubrey Vandiver, the MWC player-of-the-year and owner of a 19.1 average. Vandiver managed only seven first-half points and finished with 15.
"Chucky did a great job on her," Lappe said. "Our goal was to keep her to 15 or under. We knew we couldn't do much more than 15, but we didn't want to give her 20 to 30 points. (Jeffery) really kind of gave her fits throughout the night; she was physical with her and didn't let her get position. She did a nice job of not letting her get too many easy cuts to the basket or post up."
The Buffs had a tougher time with Cowgirls center Hillary Carlson, who scored a game-high 27, including going 12-of-16 from the foul line. Seabrook called Carlson "a great player . . . we all had a hard time guarding her."
The Cowgirls went to their locker room at halftime hoping the Buffs would chill out. Shooting 55.2 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from behind the three-point arc, CU led by as many as 13 (39-26) in the first half and was up 39-28 at intermission.
After a 14-14 tie, CU outscored Wyoming 25-12 to take a 39-26 lead on a banked-in three-pointer by Jeffery as the shot clock expired.
Spears scorched the Cowgirls in the first 20 minutes, during one stretch accounting for 15 straight points. She finished the half hitting eight of her 14 field goal attempts and half of her six three-point attempts. The Buffs finished the game 8-of-16 from three-point range.
"The ball kind of felt light to me," Spears said. "I thought if I could get it up it would go in. It felt different from ours."
Spears' 19 first-half points ties her seasonal high this season for a half (Cal) and matches Jeffery's total for the second half of the Colorado State game. Going into the locker room at halftime Thursday night, Spears had scored 52 points in her last three halves - the two against Cal and the first against Wyoming. She has been in double figures in 31-of-33 games this season and in 110-of-126 career games.
While CU was blazing, Wyoming was frigid, hitting just eight of its 27 first-half field goal attempts (29.6 percent) and only three of its dozen trey tries (25.0 percent).
Carlson, a senior from Cheyenne and a crowd favorite, scored the first two points of the second half and converted a conventional three-point play during a 12-4 Cowgirl run that cut the Buffs' lead from 45-34 to 49-46 with 12:33 to play.
In that nearly 5-minute span, CU didn't hit a field goal, managing only a pair of free throws each by Jeffery and Spears. Jeffery ended that drought with a drive through the lane and a layup. Over the next 41/2 minutes, CU held either a five- or three-point lead, but Brittany Wilson stole the ball under the Cowgirls' basket and hit a layup to send the Buffs ahead 57-50 with 6:30 left.
CU was back in control, eventually rebuilding its double-figure advantage.
"We never felt (the game) was out of our control, but there was a sense of urgency," Seabrook said. "We got a little flustered when we were up by only three points. But we've learned a lot about composure this year. We've had a lot of close games and it's taught us a lot . . . we were able to keep our composure and that was really a big thing."
Spears picked up her third and fourth personal fouls - No. 3 at 6:51, No. 4 at 6:00 - and went to the bench. The Buffs knew they had no choice but to play harder without her.
"We huddled when their girl was shooting free throws and said Spears is going out, so we've all got to pick it up, go the extra mile and do what we have to do," Jeffery said.
Added Seabrook: "We didn't ever want to give up our lead; that was a major thing."
Instead, with Spears on the bench, the Buffs increased their lead to 60-51 on Seabrook's three-point play with 4:22 remaining. And when Jeffery drained a three at the 3:30 mark, sending CU up 63-51, the big and boisterous Wyoming crowd was hushed.
The Buffs sealed the win by hitting seven of nine free throws in the final 2:05, then saluted about 150 CU fans who made the drive and boarded their bus for Boulder - anticipating Sunday's rematch with USC.Said Spears: "We're totally different now; we've been through the Big 12, we've played against tough competition, we're more focused - just like we came in here (Thursday) night."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
