Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
5-9, 0-3Pac-12
California
10-4, 1-2Pac-12
No. 21 Bears Deal Cold-Shooting Buffs 64-35 Pac-12 Loss
January 09, 2016 | Women's Basketball
BERKELEY, Calif. — Two major obstacles haunted the University of Colorado's Pac-12 focus Friday night against No. 21 California. Head coach Linda Lappe's squad followed its defensive instincts, but inconsistent shooting and high turnovers led to a 64-35 loss for the Buffs on Pete Newell Court.Â
CU, playing without senior scoring leader Jamee Swan, who missed the game with a back injury, ran into offensive trouble mid-game, as the Buffs (5-9, 0-3 Pac-12) went 19 minutes without registering a point, and ultimately put CU in too much of a hole to put together a comeback and earn their first conference win.
Heading into the night, neither team had a Pac-12 victory. Swan's absence due to a lower back injury shifted leadership to junior Lauren Huggins and Lappe's point guards. Huggins shot 1-for-7 from beyond the arc despite being ranked fourth in the Pac-12 in 3-point shooting.
Cal's Pac-12 freshman-of-the-week, Kristine Anigwe, recorded a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Lappe sent all three of her point guard options – freshmen Kennedy Leonard and Alexis Robinson and sophomore Brecca Thomas – against Anigwe and Asha Thomas during the game.
The three played 30, 28 and 13 minutes, respectively, and Leonard led the team in scoring with 12 points.
Down low, Colorado missed Swan's 15.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Haley Smith stepped up with eight points and eight rebounds, while Zoe Beard-Fails entered the game midway through the first quarter to grab five rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes.
CU's last lead came at the 3:24 mark in the first quarter. After being up 14-12, the Buffs dragged Lappe's offense through 19 scoreless minutes, with multiple close calls and open shots that never found the net.
"Offensively, we just couldn't get anything going," Lappe said. "We had an 'OK' first quarter and did a good job of moving the ball, hitting open shots."
Cal tied the game at 14 before the first-quarter buzzer, and slowly extended its lead throughout the second. Colorado committed nine turnovers in the second half alone, and according to Lappe, was simply stagnant.
"More than anything, (the problem) was just our hesitancy in that second quarter, compared to the first quarter . . . it was a completely different team coming out," she said.
Freshman Makenzie Ellis broke the spell with a jumper from the lane after halftime, and from there Colorado's offense pulled itself back together. Ellis has shot 37 percent from the field this season, and recorded seven points against the Golden Bears.
"We hadn't hit too many shots, and I knew that we needed to be aggressive and get to the rim and get free throws," Ellis said. "I squared up and went to the rim, and my being aggressive I think rubbed off on everyone else."
But offense isn't Colorado's mantra this season. Defensively, the Buffs forced 25 Cal turnovers and only allowed nine points in the second quarter despite their scoring drought.
"I thought our defense was outstanding," Lappe said. "We were going to have to come and bring that defensive intensity. I thought we made everything difficult for them and took them out of their first option."
Anigwe was held to 20 points, six below her season average. CU forced the Golden Bears to score from the paint, shutting down perimeter shots throughout the second and third quarters, but struggled to break Cal's press at half court.
Although loose ends started coming back together for Colorado in the fourth quarter after a Leonard three-pointer to end the third, the Buffs' deficit grew too large for a comeback like that against Washington last week. They edged out their program scoring low – 32 points against Texas in 2009 – for the 64-35 final. Â
CU has one day of practice before its second road game of the weekend – Sunday at No. 9/13 Stanford. The game tips off at 1 p.m. MST on the Pac-12 Networks. To win, Lappe says that adjustments made for the Cardinal must be mental.
"We've just got to do a better job of staying in the flow and staying aggressive. We let one missed shot affect the next one. That's where you've got to be really tough on the floor and able to let the last possession go."
