Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
4-5
Missouri
10-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri | 23 | 17 | 22 | 17 | 79 |
| Colorado | 18 | 29 | 16 | 12 | 75 |
Buffs' Valiant Effort Comes Up Short In 79-75 Loss To Tigers
December 12, 2015 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
BOULDER – The Colorado women's basketball team put a scare into unbeaten Missouri Saturday afternoon, but that was hardly the Buffaloes' objective.
Surrendering a 10-point third quarter lead and befuddled down the stretch by the Tigers' zone defense, the Buffs fell 79-75 at the Coors Events Center in the first game of a women's/men's doubleheader. The CU men defeated BYU 92-83 in the second game..
The Buffs, falling to 0-3 this season against SEC opponents, led 55-45 early in the third quarter but were caught by a 16-4 Tigers run that helped propel Mizzou to its 10th consecutive win – the best start in school history. CU, dropping to 4-5, had lost previous games to SEC foes Kentucky and Florida.
"I thought we played our best basketball of the season . . . it's too bad that the end didn't come out like we wanted," said CU coach Linda Lappe, whose team lost 53-50 to Mizzou last season in Columbia. "I was proud of our players – the fight, the passion and the intensity we played with."
CU led 67-64 after consecutive baskets by Jamee Swan, who topped the Buffs with 17 points – 12 in the second half. But Mizzou outscored CU 17-8 in the final 8:03, with a 3-pointer in transition by Lindsey Cunningham that Lappe called "huge" breaking a 67-67 tie and sending the Tigers ahead for good.
Zoe Beard-Fails scored six of CU's last eight points, with freshman guard Kennedy Leonard getting the Buffs' last basket with 9.2 seconds to play. Leonard (14) and fellow freshman Alexis Robinson (11) combined for 25 points and 10 assists (five each). Beard-Fails finished with eight points.
Sierra Michaelis and Cierra Porter led Mizzou with 21 points each, with Michaelis' total 11 above her average. Porter, a 6-4 freshman, scored 15 of her total in the second half and, according to Swan, "something just went off . . . she made the choice to get it done." Added Lappe, now 2-2 against MU: "Give Cierra Porter kudos for taking it to us."
Swan appeared to make a similar choice to open the third quarter, scoring eight consecutive points as CU built its 10-point lead. But Swan's next two baskets didn't come until early in the final period and she didn't get another down the stretch.
She said the Tigers' zone caught the Buffs off-guard: "We were expecting 90 percent man (defense)." Lappe echoed that: "We're not as comfortable against a zone . . . I count on two hands the minutes this season we've played zone offense."
After trailing for nearly 38 minutes – twice by eight points – and given fits by Michaelis' 3-point shooting (5-of-9, 18 first-half points), the Buffs found their offensive spark in the first half's final 3 minutes.
It came from their first-year guards – Leonard and Robinson, who combined for 11 points during a 17-3 run that closed the second quarter and gave CU a 47-40 halftime lead.
Robinson started the surge with a trey, followed it with a short jumper, then let Leonard go to work. Her 3-pointer from the left wing tied the score at 40-40 with 1:42 left before intermission. And after freshman Makenzie Ellis' jump shot in the lane put the Buffs ahead for the first time – 42-40 – Leonard squared up from the same spot on the left wing and hit another triple.
Fouled as she sank a baseline layup in the half's final 5 seconds, Brecca Thomas missed her free throw for a three-point play opportunity. Nonetheless, CU went to its locker room ahead 47-40 and hoping to hang on to the late magic it had created.
MU coach Robin Pingeton believed the Tigers "got a little soft" defensively in the waning minutes of the first half. "We needed to shore some things up . . . by the fourth quarter we were hoping we could have tied it up and we were still down one. Our kids down the stretch made some big plays and hit some big shots."
Trailing by 10, an 8-0 Mizzou run quickly sliced into CU's advantage, and after Porter scored six straight points the Tigers tied the score at 59-59 with 2:27 left in the quarter.
Less than a minute they regained the lead (61-59) on a pair of free throws by Sophie Cunningham. But the Buffs ended the quarter on Leonard's inbounds pass to Robinson for a layup at the buzzer and took a 63-62 advantage into the final quarter.
Swan opened the last period with consecutive baskets, giving CU a 67-64 advantage. But one of two free throws by Porter followed by a Michaelis jumper in the lane tied the score at 67-67 with 7:38 to play – and Lindsey Cunningham's trey in transition followed. The final 7 minutes would be about who blinked first, and it wasn't the Tigers.
But they were in unfamiliar territory; they hadn't trailed in the second half since the 7:51 mark of the fourth quarter in the opener against Missouri State. Yet Mizzou appeared comfortable, limiting CU to eight points – six by Beard-Fails – in the final 6:30 to remain unbeaten.
Lappe said this game, even in defeat, was invaluable in helping the Buffs prepare for Pac-12 play, which begins on Jan. 2 against Washington. She called Missouri a replica of Oregon State and Stanford – the preseason Pac-12 favorites.
"We've had a tough non-conference schedule . . . not a lot of easy ones," she said. "I feel like we're prepared; I really like where we're sitting going into conference play."
Before they get there, however, the Buffs have two more tune-ups – Saturday, Dec. 19, against Presbyterian (3:30 p.m., CEC) and at Wyoming on Monday, Dec. 21 (7 p.m.)
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
