Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
7-21, 2-15
Washington State
14-14, 5-12
Cougars Dial Up Long-Distance Shooting, Put Away Buffs, 83-70
February 25, 2016 | Women's Basketball, B.G. Brooks
PULLMAN, Wash. – If the Colorado women's basketball team wasn't awed by Washington State's long-range shooting, that changed in a hurry here Thursday night.
The Cougars, shooting a league-worst 30 percent from beyond the arc on the season, pulled away from the Buffaloes with a first-half 3-point barrage and cruised to an 83-70 Pac-12 victory.
WSU (14-14 overall, 5-12 Pac-12) connected on 8-of-14 3-point attempts in the first half, including three consecutive treys after CU (7-21, 2-15) had cut a 10-point deficit to three halfway through the second quarter.
The Buffs never got that close again and dropped their 12th consecutive road game (0-12). WSU defeated CU 74-66 early last month in Boulder.
CU coach Linda Lappe credited her team for continuing to compete but said the Buffs' start – the Cougars opened with a 12-2 run – "really hurt us. We had a tough time recovering from that. We weren't prepared enough, and that's on me."
The Cougars, who finished 10-of-18 (56 percent) from beyond the arc against the Pac-12's worst 3-point defensive team (33 percent), used 13 players. Ten of them scored, and five of them hit 3-pointers. WSU's bench out-produced CU's 31-8.
"Teams that sub as much as they do and play as many players as they do are difficult to go against," Lappe said. "They constantly have fresh people coming in."
WSU shot 53 percent from the field (29-of-55) while CU finished at 41 percent (30-of-74).
"It looked like we didn't have a clue as to what Washington State was doing offensively," Lappe said. "To be able to win on the road you have to be able to get stops. You have to credit Washington State; they were 'clicking on all cylinders.' We didn't make them uncomfortable at any time; it was basically spot shooting for them"
The Buffs outrebounded the Cougars by one – 37-36 – and committed four fewer turnovers (21-17) than the home team. WSU was 15-of-17 from the free throw line while CU was only 3-of-6.
CU had four players in double figures, WSU five. Kennedy Leonard topped the Buffs with 20 points while Borislava Hristova led the Cougars with 17. Haley Smith added 17 points for the Buffs, Jamee Swan 14 and Alexis Robinson 11.
The Buffs never led and trailed 45-33 at halftime, mainly due to the Cougars' blistering long-range shooting. WSU finished the half 8-of-14 from beyond the arc, with six of those treys buried in the second quarter and the run of three in a row blunting a spirited CU comeback.
Having cut a 10-point Cougars' advantage to 30-27 on consecutive layups by Leonard and an in-the-paint basket by Zoe Correal, the Buffs saw their effort fade. After Dawnyelle Awa hit back-to-back triples, Taylor Edmundson added a third and suddenly WSU was back in front by 12 – 39-27.
"We really weren't making them uncomfortable enough," Smith said. "It was a little bit disheartening in the first quarter. Then in the first two quarters they seemed to be hitting every shot. It hurt us not being able to make that adjustment. Those first couple quarters were rough in that sense.
"Once we were able to make that adjustment at half time—by getting our hands up and running them off the three-point line, and making them beat us in a different way—that was how we changed the momentum a little bit."
The Cougars increased their advantage to 45-30 – their largest first half margin – on a their eighth 3-pointer of the half, this one by Mariah Cooks. Leonard answered with a trey at the halftime buzzer, but the Buffs went to their locker room down by a dozen and in trouble.
Swan, Leonard, Hristova and Awa each scored 10 first-half points.
The Buffs opened the second half with a 3-pointer by Robinson, but the Cougars responded with an 11-2 run and took a 56-38 lead. That 18-point lead crept to 21 in the final 2 minutes of the third quarter, and the period ended with CU trailing 71-54.
An 11-2 Buffs run pulled them to within 12 – 71-59 – with 7:07 to play but they never got to within single figures the rest of the way.
CU closes the regular season on Saturday at Washington (2 p.m. MST, Pac-12 Networks), and it won't be long before the Buffs return to Seattle. The Pac-12 Tournament runs March 3-6 in Seattle's Key Auditorium.
Lappe said the Huskies, who defeated the Buffs by two points in Boulder, "will be significantly different" than the Cougars in the number of players used. "It will be six maybe seven players. We have to be ready to battle. It is going to be their Senior Night."
Smith, from Sammamish, Wash., said she "grew up going to UW games. It is always really special for me to go back to that gym and play. I remember when I was a little kid watching UW play at that gym. It is really special for me. As a team we were talking about this being our last 'for sure' game, our last regular season game and so this one is really special for us. We just need to figure out what we're playing for and who we're playing for."
