Colorado University Athletics
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Brooks: Lappe Gets 100th CU Win As Buffs Stifle Bears, 63-41
November 19, 2015 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – Linda Lappe confessed early on that she's not much into milestones. So truth be told, win No. 100 as Colorado's head women's basketball coach might not seem that much more memorable than win No. 1.
Lappe's big takeaway on Thursday night was how her Buffaloes went about their 63-41 rout of Northern Colorado.
If the Bears weren't shot down, they were most certainly shut down. Lappe loves defense, which made this her kind of night at the Coors Events Center.
"I loved our defense, it really does get me fired up," she said after watching the Buffs hold the Bears to 15 first-half points and 22.6 percent field goal shooting (14-of-62) for the night.
Continued Lappe, who is now 100-69 in six seasons at CU and 150-105 overall as a head coach: "I love how hard our players played, how they were active, how they moved their feet and helped out. We did a nice job of not letting Northern Colorado ever get started."
The Buffs (2-0) never trailed and led the Bears (2-1) by as many as 27 points (61-34) with 3:35 to play. CU's second win was the flip side of its first; in a 92-81 romp past Loyola Marymount last Saturday the Buffs were an efficient offensive machine, with five players scoring in double figures.
Three CU players – Haley Smith with 15, Jamee Swan with 13 and Zoe Beard-Fails with 12 – hit double digits against UNC. Swan added 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and 11th of her career. Beard was one rebound short of a double-double, with her nine boards a career high.
The Buffs were a click under 50 percent (49.1) shooting from the field, but Lappe could forgive that and the occasional offensive lapses (20 turnovers against 10 assists).
"You want your offense to click a little better," she noted, "but you win with your defense and I think it showed you that we were able to win by a large margin because of our defense."
And that's what the Buffs did, taking a 36-15 halftime lead and never letting the Bears closer than 13 points in the second half. Smith said tightening up their defense was a priority going into the game, and when it was over Lappe commended the Buffs on their defense.
"Holding them to 22 percent (shooting) was awesome for us," Smith said. "We had a little stagnation on offense, but that's easy to fix. We have some great offensive players. We have no worries about that. That gives us a lot of confidence."
Swan agreed that the Buffs' offensive efficiency needs to improve before they take on No. 13 Kentucky on Sunday in Lexington. But, hey, it's a "another game. Wake up, everybody puts on their shorts the same way, everybody puts on their shirts the same way – one arm at a time . . . their names, we're not worried about that; we're worried about what we need to do."
Swan also said Lappe emphasized to her team the importance of "paint touches and winning the points-in-the-paint battle." CU did that in a big way, outscoring UNC 38-12 in the paint and 13-7 in second-chance points. The Buffs also won the rebound battle 51-30.
UNC didn't have a player in double figures. Rebecca Howell topped the Bears, who trail in the series 6-11, with nine points.
The Buffs took control in the final 3 minutes of the first quarter, closing the period with a 6-0 run then opening the second quarter with a 9-2 spurt that put them up 24-9. Smith scored six of her total during that cumulative 15-2 surge.
CU ended the first quarter shooting 40 percent from the field (6-of-15) – not torrid unless compared to UNC's percentage. The Bears were held to a meager 12.5 percent, making just two of their 16 attempts.
And the Buffs got stingier as the half progressed.
UNC went to its locker room trailing 36-15 – its largest first-half deficit – on 5-of-32 field goal shooting (15.6 percent).
Aside from freshmen guards Kennedy Leonard and Alexis Robinson picking up a pair of first-quarter fouls apiece and playing only 9 minutes each, the half didn't have many downsides for the Buffs. But one was their 10 turnovers compared to just six assists, a ratio Lappe undoubtedly wanted to see flip in the last 20 minutes.
It didn't, at least not in the third quarter's early going. The Buffs committed turnovers on their first three possessions, leading to a 6-2 run by the Bears. Still, with the amount of ground UNC had to make up, CU could withstand a mini-run or two.
"We really focused in the beginning of the second half on our defense," Smith said, "because we did have a little bit of a letdown in our last game. That was one of our focuses coming out. They hit some open shots in the third quarter, so that was a wakeup that we needed to lock down."
But with Swan finding her mid-range jumper, the Buffs never lost control. Swan's second basket of the half (fourth of the night) sent CU ahead by 21 (42-21) halfway through the third period.
Unless a complete meltdown or a total loss of interest occurred in the final 15 minutes, the Buffs would take a 2-0 record to the Bluegrass State. Neither happened, although Lappe might have seen several late flaws – mostly on offense – that concerned her.
Hitting three consecutive 3-pointers – two by Hiser – the Bears cut their 21-point deficit to 13 in the final minute of the third quarter and the first minute of the fourth. But that was as close as UNC came.
An impressive, well-timed swat by Swan on a Bears layup attempt resulted in a short jumper in the key by Leonard that pushed the Buffs ahead 52-34 with 6:42 to play. Swan, who finished with two blocks, said that one "was really special to me – not only because I got the block but because it set up Kennedy Leonard to go down and make the easy bucket. All in all it was a productive block rather than one that was out of bounds."
After a Swan drive and layup increased the margin to 20, Leonard sent it to 22 (56-34) with a nice left-handed runner in the lane.
Huggins followed with CU's second trey of the night to make it a 25-point lead, and Lappe – if she wanted – could begin savoring win No. 100. She said this win "doesn't feel that much different from other wins" and thanked and congratulated players and staffers who helped her reach No. 100. "As a head coach you have a very small part in all of those wins."
More than reflecting, Lappe likely was looking ahead to the Lexington trip. "We do have some momentum," she said. "Our offense has been playing well, up to tonight. But it was good for our defense to catch up. Now we just need to put those two things together."
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
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