Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
South Carolina Aiken
Buffs Rout USC-Aiken In Exhibition
November 07, 2015 | Women's Basketball
BOULDER - The University of Colorado women's basketball team continued their perfect record in exhibition games on Saturday night defeating USC-Aiken, 86-46 at the Coors Events Center. The Buffaloes are now 26-0 all-time in exhibition contests.
"It was fun to see our players get excited about putting on their uniforms for the first time," said head coach Linda Lappe. "We've been working really hard, they've been working really hard since the end of August and really the last four, five weeks of practice. They deserve to be able to finally put on those uniforms."
This exhibition was slightly different than those in the past because of new rules for women's basketball. Instead of two halves, the teams played four 10-minute quarters, but the Buffs took the changes in stride.
In addition to the rule changes, Colorado has four freshmen who had never seen action in a collegiate game. Two of them, Makenzie Ellis and Kennedy Leonard, were part of the starting line-up.
"I thought they did a nice job," Lappe said of the freshmen. "The great thing about it is that I don't even look at them as freshmen necessarily anymore. They've really earned that and they come to practice every single day and work hard. They are able to catch on to things fast."
Leonard certainly excelled, recording 14 total points and dished out eight assists in the 26 minutes she played.
"I thought we all played really well for our first game. Nobody came out scared, so I think that was really good," said Leonard. "We did a lot of things that we were doing well in practice that we put into the game. I think we have a lot of things to work on when we go back to practice. I think for the most part a lot of us went out there like we were ready to play and ready to go. I think that's a positive for the rest of the season."
In the first quarter, the Buffs and Pacers had eight lead changes, but the period ended with CU in the lead, 19-18 and the Pacers never caught up.
Early in the second quarter, sophomore Brecca Thomas broke away with the ball toward the basket to make a lay-up and brought the score to 22-18. After the surge in energy, CU never slowed down. Junior Lauren Huggins hit a three pointer late in the second quarter and pushed the lead to 42-26. In total, the Buffs had five three-pointers in Saturday's game and took a 42-26 advantage into halftime.
The Buffs continued to play strong defense in the third quarter and held USC-Aiken to just eight points over the 10 minutes. After a three-pointer from freshman Alexis Robinson, the Buffs ended the third quarter with a 76-34 lead.Â
"You want effort on the defensive end and then just positioning and understanding what position we are supposed to be in," Lappe said. "They communicated really well. They were calling screens really well. They were helping each other out. The first quarter, there were a few miscommunications but we got those fixed and I liked our effort and thought we had pretty good positioning."
Colorado finished with 42 points in the paint, while the Pacers had eight. USC-Aiken had 11 points off turnovers and the Buffs earned 32 total.
"Starting fast and finishing strong is something we talk about here in practice, in the weight room, all of the time no matter what we're doing," said senior Jamee Swan, who led the team with 19 points in 22 minutes on the floor. "I think our team is going to do really well this year. We're going to start fast in every game and finish strong."
After a strong exhibition game, the Buffs will turn their attention to the season opener. They will return to Coors Events Center for their first game of the season on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 2 p.m. Tickets and selected concession items will be just $1.
