Friday, January 19
Tucson, Ariz.
6:00 PM
Colorado
11-7 (2-5)
63
at
72
Arizona
5-13 (1-6)
1
2
3
4
F
Colorado
14
14
13
22
63
Arizona
15
20
16
21
72
Photo by: Jeremy Cannon
Robinson's Career Night Not Enough As CU Comeback Comes Up Short
January 19, 2018 | Women's Basketball
TUCSON, Ariz. – Alexis Robinson scored a career-high 26 points, but Colorado's fourth-quarter comeback came up just short as Arizona went on to a 72-63 win at the McKale Center on Friday night. The Buffs dropped to 11-7 overall, including 2-5 in the Pac-12, while the Wildcats improved to 5-13 and 1-7 and snapped a six-game losing streak.
STAT LEADERS: Robinson scored her game and career-high 26 points on 10-of-23 shooting, including 5-of-11 from 3-point range, and she also had four steals. Robinson scored 20 points in the second half, including 15 in the fourth quarter when she hit 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Kennedy Leonard had 11 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Annika Jank also nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. Zoe Correal, making her first start since CU's season opener and first appearance since Dec. 6 after an injury, returned to grab six rebounds, score four points and block two shots.
JaLea Bennett led Arizona with 23 points and added six rebounds and four of the team's eight blocked shots.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado shot just 28.9 percent in the first half, but stayed in the game by committing just five turnovers. Arizona used a 13-5 run late in the first quarter into the second quarter to build a 25-17 lead and force a timeout just three minutes into the second quarter.
The Buffs battled back to get within four before another Wildcats run stretched their lead to 33-23. At halftime, Arizona led 35-28.
The cold shooting continued into the third quarter and the Wildcats were able to stretch their lead back to double digits several times. Robinson buried a 3-pointer from the left wing with 46 seconds left in the third quarter, but Arizona's Marlee Kyles answered with a three on the other end to send the Wildcats into the fourth quarter up 51-41.
The Buffs finally heated up early in the fourth quarter, scoring the first eight points of the period. Leonard buried a 3-pointer on the first possession and Robinson hit one at the 8:17 mark. On CU's ensuing possession, Sara Castro drove and made a tough layup over an Arizona defender to bring the deficit to 51-49.
Arizona responded to stretch the lead back to seven, but Robinson again brought CU's deficit back to two points. She sunk a 3-pointer with 5:08 remaining and then her steal and layup on Arizona's next possession cut the Wildcats lead to 56-54.
Kat Wright nailed a 3-pointer for Arizona to make it a two-possession game again with 4:22 remaining. After Jank made a layup to cut it back to 59-56, the teams traded 3-point baskets for three straight possessions as UA led 65-59.
Arizona made 7-of-8 at the free throw line in the final minute, all coming from Destiny Graham, who had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats.
KEY STATISTICS: Arizona shot 49.1 percent, while holding the Buffs to just 31.6 percent. CU outrebounded the Wildcats 48-34 and the teams each had 14 turnovers. The Buffs also had 23 offensive rebounds, but converted those into just 19 second-chance points.
NOTES: Robinson's 26 points topped her previous career high of 22 at Washington on Jan. 7 ... CU had won 13 of the previous 14 meetings with Arizona, including the past two ... CU's 14 turnovers were the fewest since having 10 vs. Arizona on Dec. 31 ... Leonard moved into fifth place all-time in assists at CU with 446, ahead of Tracy Tripp with 443.
UP NEXT: CU will play at No. 22/25 Arizona State on Sunday at 2 p.m. That game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
JR Payne, head coach
On the game
"We couldn't get over the hump. When I look at the stat sheet, we outrebounded Arizona by 14 and took care of the ball better than we have recently—we limited our turnovers to a certain extent. I thought we got good looks at the basket and open threes, but we weren't able to knock them down and we needed to do that against a really tight, compacted zone."
On the difference in the game
"There's a lot of adversity. When you look at the statistics, it shows that our effort was really good. You can't outrebound an opponent—plus-18 on the offensive glass—without trying. But it felt a little bit discombobulated. They're playing a lot of zone so now we've got smaller lineups in, trying to be able to penetrate the zone and knock down a perimeter shot. That puts people in different positions defensively. To me, it just felt discombobulated. Although we did take care of the ball more effectively and had opportunities on the glass, I don't think we were able to capitalize on our offensive rebounds. We need to be able to get that many and put some of them back in and we weren't able to do that the way we needed to."
On what the team can change and learn from the loss
"When you combine a pretty solid effort and an effort like Lexi gave us from the scoring column and that type of rebounding, we've got to be able to come out with success at the end of that night. And we didn't. It's not necessarily back to the drawing board, but as coaches, every possession, you're re-looking at it and going, 'what can we do differently, or what can we do to get people in a better position to score the ball?' And that's where we need to be."
On facing No. 22 Arizona State on Sunday
"When we played Arizona State the first time, we really had a hard time with their pressure. And I don't think that's going to bother us as much this time around. We've put in some different things offensively that I think will give us more confidence against a little more pressure in the halfcourt as we are transitioning from backcourt to frontcourt. We got outrebounded pretty significantly the first time we played them and I think we've got to build on our rebounding effort tonight and prove that this is a good rebounding team as well."
STAT LEADERS: Robinson scored her game and career-high 26 points on 10-of-23 shooting, including 5-of-11 from 3-point range, and she also had four steals. Robinson scored 20 points in the second half, including 15 in the fourth quarter when she hit 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Kennedy Leonard had 11 points, eight assists and six rebounds. Annika Jank also nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds. Zoe Correal, making her first start since CU's season opener and first appearance since Dec. 6 after an injury, returned to grab six rebounds, score four points and block two shots.
JaLea Bennett led Arizona with 23 points and added six rebounds and four of the team's eight blocked shots.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Colorado shot just 28.9 percent in the first half, but stayed in the game by committing just five turnovers. Arizona used a 13-5 run late in the first quarter into the second quarter to build a 25-17 lead and force a timeout just three minutes into the second quarter.
The Buffs battled back to get within four before another Wildcats run stretched their lead to 33-23. At halftime, Arizona led 35-28.
The cold shooting continued into the third quarter and the Wildcats were able to stretch their lead back to double digits several times. Robinson buried a 3-pointer from the left wing with 46 seconds left in the third quarter, but Arizona's Marlee Kyles answered with a three on the other end to send the Wildcats into the fourth quarter up 51-41.
The Buffs finally heated up early in the fourth quarter, scoring the first eight points of the period. Leonard buried a 3-pointer on the first possession and Robinson hit one at the 8:17 mark. On CU's ensuing possession, Sara Castro drove and made a tough layup over an Arizona defender to bring the deficit to 51-49.
Arizona responded to stretch the lead back to seven, but Robinson again brought CU's deficit back to two points. She sunk a 3-pointer with 5:08 remaining and then her steal and layup on Arizona's next possession cut the Wildcats lead to 56-54.
Kat Wright nailed a 3-pointer for Arizona to make it a two-possession game again with 4:22 remaining. After Jank made a layup to cut it back to 59-56, the teams traded 3-point baskets for three straight possessions as UA led 65-59.
Arizona made 7-of-8 at the free throw line in the final minute, all coming from Destiny Graham, who had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats.
KEY STATISTICS: Arizona shot 49.1 percent, while holding the Buffs to just 31.6 percent. CU outrebounded the Wildcats 48-34 and the teams each had 14 turnovers. The Buffs also had 23 offensive rebounds, but converted those into just 19 second-chance points.
NOTES: Robinson's 26 points topped her previous career high of 22 at Washington on Jan. 7 ... CU had won 13 of the previous 14 meetings with Arizona, including the past two ... CU's 14 turnovers were the fewest since having 10 vs. Arizona on Dec. 31 ... Leonard moved into fifth place all-time in assists at CU with 446, ahead of Tracy Tripp with 443.
UP NEXT: CU will play at No. 22/25 Arizona State on Sunday at 2 p.m. That game will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
JR Payne, head coach
On the game
"We couldn't get over the hump. When I look at the stat sheet, we outrebounded Arizona by 14 and took care of the ball better than we have recently—we limited our turnovers to a certain extent. I thought we got good looks at the basket and open threes, but we weren't able to knock them down and we needed to do that against a really tight, compacted zone."
On the difference in the game
"There's a lot of adversity. When you look at the statistics, it shows that our effort was really good. You can't outrebound an opponent—plus-18 on the offensive glass—without trying. But it felt a little bit discombobulated. They're playing a lot of zone so now we've got smaller lineups in, trying to be able to penetrate the zone and knock down a perimeter shot. That puts people in different positions defensively. To me, it just felt discombobulated. Although we did take care of the ball more effectively and had opportunities on the glass, I don't think we were able to capitalize on our offensive rebounds. We need to be able to get that many and put some of them back in and we weren't able to do that the way we needed to."
On what the team can change and learn from the loss
"When you combine a pretty solid effort and an effort like Lexi gave us from the scoring column and that type of rebounding, we've got to be able to come out with success at the end of that night. And we didn't. It's not necessarily back to the drawing board, but as coaches, every possession, you're re-looking at it and going, 'what can we do differently, or what can we do to get people in a better position to score the ball?' And that's where we need to be."
On facing No. 22 Arizona State on Sunday
"When we played Arizona State the first time, we really had a hard time with their pressure. And I don't think that's going to bother us as much this time around. We've put in some different things offensively that I think will give us more confidence against a little more pressure in the halfcourt as we are transitioning from backcourt to frontcourt. We got outrebounded pretty significantly the first time we played them and I think we've got to build on our rebounding effort tonight and prove that this is a good rebounding team as well."
Team Stats
COLO
ARIZ
FG%
.316
.491
3FG%
.258
.474
FT%
.583
.688
RB
48
34
TO
14
14
STL
8
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
26
FGM
10
3FGM
5
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
4
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's BasketballF
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
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