Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
14-16, 6-12
USC
15-15, 7-11
Brooks: Buffs Dispatch USC, Eye No.1-Seed Oregon State
March 05, 2015 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
SEATTLE – Intensely focused, physical and firing more accurately than in all but one game this season, the Colorado women's basketball team shot down Southern California 75-63 here Thursday night to advance to the Pac-12 Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
And now the challenge rises considerably for No. 9 seed CU, which has won its opening game in each of four Pac-12 tourney appearances. The Buffs (14-16) play top seed and No. 7-ranked Oregon State on Friday night (7 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks) at KeyArena. The Beavers (26-3), who received one of four first-round byes, defeated the Buffs 66-44 last month in Boulder.
CU checked in with its second-best shooting night (53 percent) of the season to oust No. 8 seed USC and gain revenge for a pair of regular-season, double-digit losses to the Trojans (15-15). The Buffs shot 58 percent in a 90-84 home loss to UCLA.
 "I thought it was one of our better games of the season," CU coach Linda Lappe said. "I'm really proud and happy for our team, especially our three seniors for them to play like they played and the rest of our team to come together."
Now winners of four of their last seven games, the Buffs got double-figure scoring from four players, topped by Haley Smith's 18. Jamee Swan added 15 points, Lexy Kresl 12 and Lauren Huggins 11 – including three-of-three 3-pointers in her first double-figure effort against a Pac-12 opponent. For the night, CU made five of its seven 3-point attempts (71 percent), including all three in the second half.
And they turned out to be monster treys.
With USC turning up its intensity and cutting into a 39-27 halftime deficit, Huggins hit back-to-back three-balls and Alina Hartmann contributed another to push CU up 64-48 – the 16-point lead being the Buffs' biggest of the night at that juncture.
"Two by Lauren and one by Alina, back to back to back . . . those were three huge shots," Lappe said, smiling. "It was a huge turning point to the game. We hadn't been scoring to that point very well, and that really just opened the game up and really stretched out their defense out . . . (then) we were able to go back inside and get some layups."
In their pair of decisive regular-season losses to the Trojans (81-61, 66-51) the Buffs committed 43 combined turnovers. Thursday night's total was 18, with eight of them coming in the first half and the bulk of the second-half total occurring after CU already had established a late, commanding lead.
Lappe said her team was "more composed tonight . . . extremely focused, mentally tough and really composed. Even when USC did make runs, we didn't let it affect us."
Along with her 15 points, Swan contributed five rebounds, four blocked shots, one assist and one steal. Lappe said the 6-2 junior "played like an all-conference player . . . she's tough to defend down low (and) she stepped up and did a nice job defensively."
The Trojans' were held to their lowest shooting percentage (29) of the season, and their leading scorer (12.3 ppg), all-conference senior forward Alexyz Vaioletama, went 0-for-13 from the field and finished with four free throws – all made in the first half. Cleared to play after a concussion that kept her out of the final two regular season games, she started but was ineffective.
Also held in check was USC's transition offense – a defensive priority for CU. The Buffs' torrid first-half shooting (58 percent) aided their defense, slowing down the Trojans. "With the way they shot in the first half, it really kind of stifled our offense," USC coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke said. "(It) made us become a half-court basketball team when we really wanted to get up and down the court."
The Buffs, meanwhile, were efficient in their half-court sets and in sharing the ball. They had 17 assists on their 25 baskets, with Kresl furnishing seven of the assist total.
Brianna Barrett led USC with 18 points, but went 7-of-17 from the field. Her teammates finished a combined 15-of-58. Cooper-Dyke said CU's sagging man defense "stopped us from penetrating. We like to get to the basket . . . hats off to Colorado. (They) executed their game plan to perfection. They played really hard for 40 minutes, so you've got to give credit where it's due."
The Buffs led 39-27 at halftime, with that 12-point advantage their largest of the first 20 minutes. After falling behind 12-9, CU used a 12-2 run to create what appeared to be a comfortable distance from USC. And the Buffs did it minus Jen Reese, who scored four of her team's first six points but also collected her second foul less than three minutes into the game.
She played only six first-half minutes, scoring six points of her eight points. But she collected a team-best seven rebounds. Her teammates compensated nicely in the first half, hitting 14 of their 24 field goal attempts (58 percent) and overcoming an early outbreak of turnovers. During CU's 12-2 surge, good ball movement resulted in layups by Smith and Kresl – and it didn't hurt that USC was being pushed into a mini-Ice Age.
With the Buffs ratcheting up the defensive intensity, the Trojans suffered through a nearly six-minute drought, going for 0-for-9 during that stretch and 1-for-15 overall before reserve Amy Okonkwo made a layup with 5:47 left before intermission.
Shortly thereafter, Smith hit a pair of free throws to give the Buffs their first double-digit lead – 28-18 – and the Trojans got no closer than five points in the half's last 2:30.
USC scored the first four points of the second half, but CU maintained a six- to eight-point lead through the first eight minutes. Lappe said her halftime message was to treat the last 20 minutes like the scoreboard read "zero (to) zero . . . didn't matter what the score was. We wanted to come out and really reset a little bit. I put our beginning (pregame) things that we talked about back on the board."
Those things included playing solid transition defense. The Buffs did, and Lappe called that "huge for us. Their run in the second half was because they were getting out in transition and getting too many lay-ups. I liked how we responded under the 12-minute mark."
The Buffs committed two more turnovers during that stretch, but their biggest problem was a growing number of fouls. Swan, Kresl and Reese had three each before the 10-minute mark, but by that time CU had taken its largest lead of the game – 56-33 – with Huggins draining her second trey for the last three points in the 13-point bulge and Hartmann's trey to follow.
The freshman from Bamberg, Germany squared up from the left corner, knocked it down and pushed the Buffs up 64-48 with 7:36 to play.
Could CU hold that 16-point lead?
Yes. The Buffs led by 15 (71-56) on a pair of Kresl free throws with 2:47 remaining, before hitting the final margin.
Smith, who reached double figures for the 13th time this season, said Lappe spoke to the Buffs about composure and letting the game come to them. "We didn't need to force anything . . . I think the flow of the game was really easy." Â Â
Swan said the Buffs discussed coming into the tournament with a tougher mental edge "and playing Colorado basketball . . . we definitely knew it was going to be a tough game. Pac-12 Tournament games are always big games; everybody comes to play, it doesn't matter if you're a 12th seed or a 3rd seed, you're always going to bring your best."
It will be needed once again from the Buffs on Friday night.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDUÂ
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