Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
9-9, 2-5
Washington
15-4, 4-3
Buffs Fall To Huskies' Late Rally, Lose 85-82
January 24, 2015 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
SEATTLE - The Colorado women's basketball team showed it could run with the Pac-12 Conference's highest-scoring outfit here Friday night. But the Buffaloes couldn't run with the Washington Huskies long enough.
The Buffs led by as many as 11 points in the first half and 8 in the second, but they couldn't hang on and lost 85-82, snapping their two-game winning streak.
CU (9-9, 2-5) rallied to go ahead 68-65 with 6:22 to play, but a 3-pointer by Jazmine Davis tied the score and the Buffs never regained the lead. They pulled to within a point three times in the final 4:11 and missed a final-second shot to send the game into overtime.
UW (15-4, 4-3) swept the series with CU last season and now has won four of six meetings since the Buffs joined the Pac-12 in 2011-12.
The Buffs had three players in double figures, topped by Lexy Kresl's 23. Jamee Swan added 22 while Jen Reese contributed 13. Swan also grabbed 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season.
"I am proud of how we played," head coach Linda Lappe said. "We have played now, three and a half games of really good basketball. I like this team because of what we do and how we play together."
Davis led the Huskies, who average 79.5 points a game, with 25 points and Kelsey Plum - the Pac-12's leading scorer - added 23, just 1.5 below her average. Talia Walton scored 18, but left the game midway through the second half with an injury.
"The Pac-12 is guard dominated in my opinion," said Kresl who drew the job of guarding Plum for most of the evening. "You could name one great guard on every single team that just stands out above the rest in this conference and probably to other guards in the nation."
A hot-shooting first half - 45 percent overall from the field, 50 percent from behind the arc - carried the Buffs to a 42-35 halftime lead. They led by as many as 11 points twice before the Huskies chipped away and cut their deficit to single digits before intermission.
Swan led CU in scoring (15 points) and rebounding (7) in the opening half, but she was one of four Buffs to pick up two fouls in the first 20 minutes and got the required bench time along with Zoe Correal, Haley Smith and Reese.
First-half hustle paid off for the Buffs; they outscored the Huskies 13-3 in second-chance points and outrebounded them 23-19. Plus, CU opened in a sharing mood, dishing out nearly as many first-half assists (12) as they had averaged (15.9) through 17 games.
And CU's first-half defense wasn't bad either. UW managed only 37 percent from the field (11-of-32) but drained 7 of its 19 3-point attempts. Walton hit all three of her trey tries and, like Plum, scored first-half 11 points.
"I think we had a lot of confidence going into tonight's game after playing Utah twice," Kresl said. "We came out and showed pretty well. We just have to fix a few little things and execute down the stretch."
The Buffs didn't open the second half as efficiently as they did the first, and the Huskies were more dialed in than they were at the opening tip. Result: UW outscored CU 15-6 - including a 12-0 run - in the second half's first 4:08.
CU went nearly 3 minutes without a basket, and compounding the coldness, the Buffs committed three quick turnovers and saw Reese go to the bench with her fourth foul. The Huskies surged ahead 52-48 and stayed ahead until Kresl hit a trey for a 53-52 Buffs advantage with just under 14 minutes remaining.
It was the start of something good - really good.
Kresl and her teammates were rediscovering their offensive rhythm. Her triple not only restored CU's lead, it launched an 11-0 run that carried the Buffs to a 62-54. Kresl, who had six first-half points, added 14 before the second half's 10-minute mark as CU hit six of seven shots during its surge.
"I thought Lexy really carried us midway through that second half when we needed to score," Lappe said. "She was a huge part of that stretch where went up by eight to 10."
But the Huskies wouldn't go away. They pulled to within 66-65 with 7:06 to play on one of two foul shots by Davis. But the Buffs countered with a pair of free throws by Swan - her first points of the second half - for a three-point CU lead.
It lasted as long as it took Davis to can a 3-pointer to tie it at 68-68. Two free throws by Aminah Williams returned the advantage (70-68) to UW with 5:09 left. The Buffs closed to within one point three times in the final 4:11, including 78-77 with 1:50 to play. After Plum missed two free throws, CU called timeout with 1:24 left. But the Buffs didn't capitalize on their set strategy, and Davis made them pay by hitting a 3-pointer from the corner to push the Huskies ahead 81-77 with 49 seconds remaining.
Two free throws by Reese 22 seconds later pulled the Buffs to within 81-79 - and a stop was needed. It came in the form of Smith's fifth foul, sending Plum to the foul line with 21 seconds left. She hit both free throws - UW went up 83-79 - but Swan calmly knocked down a trey to draw CU to 83-82 with 11.9 seconds showing.
After a Huskies timeout, Swan quickly fouled Davis, who sank one of two for an 84-82 advantage. But UW controlled the miss and CU was forced to foul with 9 seconds to play. Kelli Kingma hit one of her two free throws for an 85-82 UW lead. A desperation 3-pointer by Jasmine Sborov with a second left missed - and the Buffs were done.
"We had a few too many turnovers, when we needed to scores and we could've gotten a few more stops and rebounds," Lappe said. "But in terms of where we are at and what we are doing, now its the matter of going into a gym and have the mindset of coming away with a win."
CU plays at Washington State on Sunday (2 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks), then returns to the Coors Events Center next weekend, taking on Arizona State on Friday (7 p.m.) and Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 1 (11 a.m.).
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDUÂ
