Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
15-6, 4-6Pac-12
Oregon State
14-7, 5-5Pac-12
Colorado Falls To Oregon State 65-45
February 03, 2012 | Women's Basketball
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Colorado's two biggest vices as of late cost the Buffaloes once again. A cold start and too many turnovers resulted in a 65-45 Oregon State win Thursday night at Gill Coliseum.
The Buffaloes (15-6, 4-6 Pac-12) shot just 29 percent from the field and committed 22 turnovers. Oregon State (14-7, 5-5 Pac-12) used Colorado's mistakes to its advantage, outscoring the Buffaloes 22-9 in points off turnovers.
Colorado missed its first seven shots before Lexy Kresl hit the team's first field goal at 15:31 left in the first half, a 3-pointer that pulled the Buffaloes to within 6-5.
But the Buffaloes missed their next 10 shots from the field. CU didn't score another bucket until Jen Reese, who had missed her first five shots, sank a short jumper with 6:44 left in the first half.
"We didn't make shots," head coach Linda Lappe said. "We were getting every shot we've practiced in the last two days. I didn't feel we were taking bad shots, I thought we were taking good shots that we make in practice all the time, but we're not going to win games making just 15 field goals, four in the first half."
With Colorado's outside shots off the mark against OSU's zone defense, the Buffaloes best offense in the first half was its ability to get to the line. CU made eight free throws in the first half, six of those from Julie Seabrook,
Despite the offensive struggles, CU trailed by just 12 in the final minute, but Oregon State quickly retook any momentum. Earlysia Marchbanks made a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left and then Alexis Bostick stole CU's inbounds pass and scored easily to give OSU a 33-17 halftime lead.
Colorado scored the first five points of the second half to pull within 11. Reese scored on a baseline jumper and Meagan Malcolm-Peck drilled her 75th career 3-pointer to cut the Beavers lead to 33-22. After a stop, Reese had a good look to cut it to single digits, but just missed off the rim.
 OSU took advantage, pushing the ball up to Sage Indendi who sank her first of two second half 3-poitners. That bucket was the first of seven straight for the Beavers and part of a 14-4 run that put the game out of reach. Colorado had six turnovers during that stretch which led to nine OSU points.
Colorado played solid defense at times against the Beavers, but the mistakes on the other end were just too much to overcome.
"It's so hard to play defense when you're not making shots and also when you are turning the ball over," Lappe said. "I felt like we did a decent job in the half court of defending them, but when we're chasing them from behind because we have poor passing and poor catching over and over again it's going to be a long night defensively."
Seabrook led Colorado with 10 points and seven rebounds. Reese, a Clackamas, Ore., native also had seven rebounds, but made just 2-of-11 from the field finishing with four points.
Junior guard Chucky Jeffery, who entered the game needing just 14 points to reach 1,000, was held to six points, five of which came late with the game well out of hand.
Marchbanks scored a game-high 13 points for the Beavers. Ali Gibson had 12 points while Indendi had 10.
Colorado continues on the road to face the University of Oregon on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 3 p.m. MST at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. Saturday's game can be viewed live on CUBuffs.com by BuffsTV subscribers.
