Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
9-8, 2-4Pac-12
Utah
6-11, 0-6Pac-12
Buffs Sweep Utes In Convincing 73-54 Pac-12 Road Win
January 18, 2015 | Women's Basketball
SALT LAKE CITY – The Colorado women's basketball team required overtime to defeat Utah on Wednesday night in Boulder, but on Sunday afternoon no extra time was needed for the Buffaloes to record a memorable road win.
Parlaying torrid 3-point shooting in the second half and skin-tight defense all game on the Utes' Taryn Wicijowski, the Buffaloes took care of business in regulation and left the Huntsman Center with a 73-54 Pac-12 Conference victory.
CU (9-8, 2-4) won for the second time on the road this season and for the first time in Pac-12 play. It was the Buffs' largest conference road win in 12 years -- or since a 71-50 triumph at Kansas in 2003, current CU coach Linda Lappe's senior season.
"We started well and had a lot of energy," Lappe said. "Defensively, I liked our presence. They (Utah) missed shots, and a lot of them we caused by having our hands up and our length."
The Buffs hit eight of their 14 3-point field goal attempts, including going 7-for-11 in the second half. Their final shooting numbers: 44.9 percent from the field, 57.1 from beyond the arc. But they hit 63.6 in the final 20 minutes from long range and 57.1 percent from the field overall in the second half.
Lauren Huggins broke out of a 3-for-20 slump by hitting 3-of-4 3-pointers in the second half.
"It felt really good," Huggins said. "My teammates were putting me in really good positions, setting really good screens. coach Lappe and coach (Jamie) Carey told me, 'Just get your feet ready, have your hands ready, and knock them down.' That's exactly what happened."
Just as impressive, though, as the Buffs' marksmanship was their inside defense on Wicijowski, who nearly singlehandedly carried the Utes in their 77-72 OT loss on Wednesday in Boulder.
In that game, Wicijowski led all scorers with 29 points and all rebounders with 14. But four days later, the Buffs had her figured out; she finished with six points – none in the second half – and three rebounds – none in the first half.
"Our posts may not have scored a lot for us (today), but they did a nice job defending," Lappe said. "We talked a lot about how we were going to stop Taryn Wicijowski, she obviously hurt us at our place, we wanted to do some different things on her.
"Jamee Swan did a nice job. Zoe Correal did a nice job as well. Just the way that we doubled team, it was there every time, a defender could really count on that double. I think we just caused her [Wicijowski] to think. And anytime you make players think, good things happen for you defensively."
And after scoring a career-high 26 points on Wednesday night, senior Lexy Kresl again found Utah's defense to her liking. She led all scorers Sunday with 18 points, but got help from Haley Smith (11) and Jamee Swan (10).
The Buffs also went 13-for-14 from the free throw line, got 17 points off of 12 Utes turnovers and committed just nine themselves. They outrebounded the Utes 36-28, with Jen Reese grabbing a team-high seven boards.
Danielle Rodriguez led Utah with 14 points and was the only Utes player in double figures. Utah was held to 36.7 percent (18-of-49) from the field. The Utes (6-10, 0-6) dropped their sixth consecutive game and now have lost seven of their last nine games.
The Buffs led 27-24 at halftime, taking the lead on a 3-pointer by Kresl with 5 seconds before the buzzer. They were ahead for most of the half, up by as many as five points before encountering a nearly 6-minute scoring drought and committing three of their four first-half turnovers.
The Utes took advantage, going on an 8-0 run and taking a three-point lead before the Buffs righted themselves, caught up and went into intermission ahead.
At the 12:30 mark of the second half, CU opened an eight-point advantage (40-32) then went ahead by double digits (50-40) for the first time on a Kresl layup. Less than a minute later, Jasmine Sborov added a reverse layup for a 52-40 lead – and with 8:02 to play the Buffs appeared to be reaching a rare comfort zone on the Pac-12 road.
CU increased its advantage to as many as 21 points in the final minute and a half.
The Buffs continue their Pac-12 travels this weekend, visiting Washington on Friday (8 p.m., Pac-12 Network) and Washington State on Sunday (2 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
