Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
2-1
Kentucky
4-0
No. 13 Kentucky Too Much For Young Buffs Squad
November 22, 2015 | Women's Basketball
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman Kennedy Leonard paced the Colorado Buffaloes, but in the end No. 13 Kentucky was just too much for the young Buffs, opening up a 16-point first quarter lead and cruising to a 25 point victory, 86-61, here Sunday.
"I didn't think we competed in the first half at all," CU coach Linda Lappe said. "It was our first real big test and first road game, and when you put those two things together we looked a little scared coming out of the gates, until really halftime. I do like how we responded at halftime, we had a different look in our eye, a different aggressiveness, we were playing together."
Down 16 after the first quarter and 21 at halftime, being doubled up, 42-21, the Buffs played even in the third quarter (21-21) and close in the fourth quarter (23-19) for the final score of 86-61.Â
Leonard finished with 15 points and hit double figures in assists for the first time in her young career with 10, also adding six rebounds. She shot 6-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc.Â
"She was a huge difference maker in the second half," Lappe said. "Our team went and she went. Â We expect a lot out of her, but now I think going forward she'll be in a much better position to lead the team from the get-go."
Jamee Swan and Zoe Beard-Fails both reached double figures, as well, with 12 points apiece, Swan adding eight rebounds and Beard-Fails five and both coming up with a pair of blocks. Lauren Huggins and Alexis Robinson each hit threes off the bench for the Buffs, Huggins hitting three for nine points and Robinson a pair for six points.Â
"Zoe had a heck of a game," Lappe said. "I think she had the best game I've seen her play in a Buffalo uniform. She was being aggressive, she was boxing out, she was doing her job, she was playing with fire and she was finishing around the rim."
The Buffs did out-rebound the Wildcats, 38-35, but committed 21 turnovers to just 11 for Kentucky. The Wildcats did outscore the Buffs 22-8 on points off turnovers.Â
Colorado opened up the game staying even with the Wildcats for the first half of the first quarter, down just 9-7 at that point after a 3-pointer from Leonard. Unfortunately for the Buffs, that was their last points of the first quarter while the Wildcats closed the period on a 16-0 run to take a 23-7 lead. The Buffs hit just 2-of-14 from the field in the first quarter.Â
Kentucky extended that lead to 17 points at 25-7 early in the second period before the Buffs rattled off a 7-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 11 at 25-14. A three from Huggins and back-to-back buckets by Beard-Fails comprised that run. The lead fluctuated between 13 and 15 for the next several minutes and after a Haley Smith layup with 3:51 left in the second quarter, the lead was 13 at 34-21. But again the Wildcats would make a push at the end of the period, outscoring the Buffs 8-0 to take a 42-21 lead at the break.
"We looked like a bunch of individuals out there (in the first half)," Lappe said. "In the second half we came together and that's what our strength is. Individually, we are good, but we're not good enough to beat Kentucky. As a collective unit, we have a lot more talent together."
The two teams kept things relatively equal in the third quarter, each scoring 21 points as the lead remained at 21 in divisions of 21, the score being 63-42 at the end of that period. The lead was between 17 and 23 points the entire period. Swan scored six points in the period, all in the first 2:35, while Leonard had seven points over the last seven minutes to pace the Buffs' offense.Â
The fourth quarter was also relatively equal, Kentucky outscored the Buffs, 23-19, for the final 25-point margin of 86-61. The Wildcats pushed their lead to 29 points, the biggest of the game, at the mid-point of the fourth quarter at 75-46 and after a Robinson three to make it 75-49, the two teams played relatively equal the remainder of the game.Â
"I thought we had three players that came out to play in that first half and then in the second half, we had all nine that did their job and did a great job," Lappe said. "We just have to make sure everybody is ready to go in a game like this."
With any young team in a tough road test, Lappe and the Buffs did figure out what they need to work on, and the consensus was defense after giving up 86 points and allowing Kentucky to shoot 61 percent (11-of-18) from behind the arc and just under 50 percent (34-of-70, 49 percent) from the field.Â
"What we got out of this is we need to defend," Lappe said. "We have to get better defensively. We have to be able to get stops and also make those second and third plays. We make the first play up really well and then the ball is on the floor, and Kentucky picked it up and scored it, I think they had 20 points in situations like that, which really turned out to be the difference."
"We figured out what some of our flaws are and what we need to fix to be a top caliber team," Swan added. "We didn't come out with the fire that we wanted, but as the game went on, we lost our fear and decided to play Colorado Basketball. I think we learned that we can't be scared when we go in to play tough opponents."
Next up for the Buffs is their own Omni Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The Buffs will face Massachusetts Friday at 7:30 p.m. following a match-up between Florida and Ball State at 5 p.m. The consolation (5 p.m.) and championship (7:30 p.m.) games will take place on Saturday.Â
