Thursday, February 22
Los Angeles, Calif.
9:00 PM
Colorado
14-14, 5-12P12
67
at
73
UCLA
22-6, 13-4P12
1
2
3
4
F
Colorado
13
14
16
24
67
UCLA
24
11
21
17
73
Photo by: Jeremy Cannon
No. 10 UCLA Rallies Late To Edge CU As Robinson Leads Buffs With 31
February 22, 2018 | Women's Basketball
LOS ANGELES – Alexis Robinson scored a career-high 31 points, but No. 10 UCLA held on for a 73-67 win over Colorado on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion. CU dropped to 14-14 overall and 5-12 in the Pac-12, while UCLA improved to 22-6 and 13-4.
UCLA handed CU its worst loss since joining the Pac-12 earlier this season in a 93-55 loss on Jan. 14. On Thursday, the Buffs were tied with UCLA with 1:31 remaining in the game.
STAT LEADERS: Robinson made 11-of-25 from the floor, including five 3-pointers, despite starting the game 1-for-5 shooting. She had five assists and four rebounds and scored 17 of her points in the second half.
Kennedy Leonard was held to just seven points, but had 11 assists and tied her single-season school record of 190.
Quinessa Caylao-Do added nine points. Mya Hollingshed had a team-high nine rebounds and scored seven points off the bench. Annika Jank had eight rebounds and five points.
Jordin Canada led the Bruins with 20 points, all in the second half, and had 11 assists. Monique Billings had 12 points and 11 rebounds for UCLA.
HOW IT HAPPENED: UCLA come out hot, jumping out to a 15-3 lead with 4:38 remaining in the first quarter to force a CU timeout. Robinson then caught fire for the Buffs, scoring the game's next eight points and burying a 3-pointer out of the timeout to close the deficit to 17-13.
The Bruins led 24-13 at the end of the first quarter, but CU still played tough into halftime. A Hollingshed 3-pointer and Mathilde Diop layup on consecutive possessions forced a UCLA timeout with 3:42 left in the half, trimming the deficit to 31-24.
UCLA led 35-27 at halftime after shooting 44 percent from the floor.
An 8-2 Buffs run in the middle of the third quarter cut UCLA's lead to 42-39 with 4:34 left. Robinson and Leonard each scored four during the run as the two juniors led the Buffs throughout the game.
The Bruins went on a 14-4 run over the remainder of the third quarter, leading 56-43 at the end of the period as Canada scored all 14 of UCLA's points during that stretch after going scoreless until that point.
CU again clawed its way back into the game, scoring nine straight points midway through the fourth quarter to get within 58-54 at the 5:51 mark.
UCLA's Chantel Horvat ended the run with a 3-pointer, but Robinson hit her fifth 3-pointer of the game to answer and force a timeout with 4:53 left in the game.
After Canada scored with 3:51 remaining, CU scored seven straight points to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:31 left. Jank grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in and Caylao-Do buried a 3-pointer from the left corner at the 2:35 mark to cut the deficit to two. Hollingshed then sunk a pair of free throws to tie the game.
Kennedy Burke drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:13 left in the game, putting the Bruins in front 67-64. Robinson tried to tie the game on the ensuing possession, but her shot rimmed out and UCLA pulled down the rebound.
Canada then made two free throws with 27.2 seconds left to stretch UCLA's lead to five. Robinson drew a foul with 16.0 seconds to go and made 1-of-2, bringing the score to 69-65.
Michaela Onyenwere made two free throws with 13.5 seconds left for the Bruins, stretching the margin to six. Leonard and Canada each made two free throws in the closing seconds.
KEY STATISTICS: CU was nearly even with UCLA statistically, but the Bruins edged the Buffs in several key areas. UCLA held a 42-41 rebounding edge and the two teams were even with 11 turnovers each. UCLA shot 42 percent and held CU to 38 percent.
NOTES: Robinson's 31 points were a career high, topping her previous best of 26 set earlier this season at Arizona ... it was Robinson's seventh career game with 20+ points and fourth this season (all this season have been in Pac-12 play in the 2018 calendar year) ... Leonard tied her own single-season assists record of 190, reaching that with her 11th assist ... Leonard's 11 assists marked the eighth time in her career she has had 10+ assists, the fourth time this season and second in the past three games.
UP NEXT: CU will wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Southern California at 2 p.m. MT.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
JR Payne, head coach
General
"Every coach in the country wants their team to be peaking right now and play for each other. Not every coach can say that, but I can say that. We're playing well and together. Lexi had a huge night. She was hard to stop. She was defending and doing everything. I love where our team is right now and our fearlessness and competitiveness was pretty evident tonight."
On the difference between the loss on Jan. 14 and tonight
"We are a drastically different team today than we were six weeks ago that it was almost not even worth watching the film [of that game] other than to see what they did on ball screens or on baseline out-of-bounds plays. We're just a different ball club. We're playing more together, we've got great chemistry, we're playing harder, we're rebounding more aggressively. Our young kids have really grown up in the last month as sort of a trial-by-fire. They've had to play more."
"The best teams that I've been a part of, championship teams, have not been the most talented teams or necessarily the deepest teams. The best teams that I've ever coached have a couple of special players and the rest of it is chemistry and it's togetherness and it's selflessness and buying in to playing fearlessly and things like that. Our team has that right now."
On the statement this game made after the game on Jan. 14
"It's really hard for me to compare. It's like Boulder High playing against UCLA when we were there and now we're the University of Colorado Buffaloes and we're competing at UCLA. We're so much better now and so much more together and more cohesive than we were."
On the difference down the stretch after CU tied the game with 1:31 left
"You could definitely say they have more experience. They have three seniors that have logged tons of minutes in their careers. But I wouldn't even say that. They hit a big three. We came down and had a good look at the basket. From then, the clock dictated that it ended up being where if we didn't turn them over, we had to foul. They knocked down free throws and that was sort of the ballgame. The fact that we tied the game and then had a great look down three, I thought we executed well down the stretch, got good looks at the basket, got to the free throw line near the end of the game. In the end, it just comes down to they scored more points."
On building momentum for the Pac-12 Tournament
"I've been telling people our momentum has been building. We won our two games last weekend. Up until that point, we've had great momentum. We've been getting better. We just haven't necessarily had a ton of wins to show for it. But our team right now is definitely swinging in the right direction. And certainly going into the Pac-12 Tournament we should be confident, we should understand how well we're playing together and how successful we are when we are playing together. I love my team, I love where we are and I love our chances."
Alexis Robinson, junior guard
On her mindset coming into the game after the loss on Jan. 14
"Our mindset was just to go in and get a win, get an upset."
On the statement the game made
"I feel like we're not going anywhere. This is our time. We proved it tonight that we can compete with any team out there."
On what's working for the team right now
"We are just coming together and that starts off the court. We're bonding a lot better so we're playing a lot better together."
UCLA handed CU its worst loss since joining the Pac-12 earlier this season in a 93-55 loss on Jan. 14. On Thursday, the Buffs were tied with UCLA with 1:31 remaining in the game.
STAT LEADERS: Robinson made 11-of-25 from the floor, including five 3-pointers, despite starting the game 1-for-5 shooting. She had five assists and four rebounds and scored 17 of her points in the second half.
Kennedy Leonard was held to just seven points, but had 11 assists and tied her single-season school record of 190.
Quinessa Caylao-Do added nine points. Mya Hollingshed had a team-high nine rebounds and scored seven points off the bench. Annika Jank had eight rebounds and five points.
Jordin Canada led the Bruins with 20 points, all in the second half, and had 11 assists. Monique Billings had 12 points and 11 rebounds for UCLA.
HOW IT HAPPENED: UCLA come out hot, jumping out to a 15-3 lead with 4:38 remaining in the first quarter to force a CU timeout. Robinson then caught fire for the Buffs, scoring the game's next eight points and burying a 3-pointer out of the timeout to close the deficit to 17-13.
The Bruins led 24-13 at the end of the first quarter, but CU still played tough into halftime. A Hollingshed 3-pointer and Mathilde Diop layup on consecutive possessions forced a UCLA timeout with 3:42 left in the half, trimming the deficit to 31-24.
UCLA led 35-27 at halftime after shooting 44 percent from the floor.
An 8-2 Buffs run in the middle of the third quarter cut UCLA's lead to 42-39 with 4:34 left. Robinson and Leonard each scored four during the run as the two juniors led the Buffs throughout the game.
The Bruins went on a 14-4 run over the remainder of the third quarter, leading 56-43 at the end of the period as Canada scored all 14 of UCLA's points during that stretch after going scoreless until that point.
CU again clawed its way back into the game, scoring nine straight points midway through the fourth quarter to get within 58-54 at the 5:51 mark.
UCLA's Chantel Horvat ended the run with a 3-pointer, but Robinson hit her fifth 3-pointer of the game to answer and force a timeout with 4:53 left in the game.
After Canada scored with 3:51 remaining, CU scored seven straight points to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:31 left. Jank grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in and Caylao-Do buried a 3-pointer from the left corner at the 2:35 mark to cut the deficit to two. Hollingshed then sunk a pair of free throws to tie the game.
Kennedy Burke drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:13 left in the game, putting the Bruins in front 67-64. Robinson tried to tie the game on the ensuing possession, but her shot rimmed out and UCLA pulled down the rebound.
Canada then made two free throws with 27.2 seconds left to stretch UCLA's lead to five. Robinson drew a foul with 16.0 seconds to go and made 1-of-2, bringing the score to 69-65.
Michaela Onyenwere made two free throws with 13.5 seconds left for the Bruins, stretching the margin to six. Leonard and Canada each made two free throws in the closing seconds.
KEY STATISTICS: CU was nearly even with UCLA statistically, but the Bruins edged the Buffs in several key areas. UCLA held a 42-41 rebounding edge and the two teams were even with 11 turnovers each. UCLA shot 42 percent and held CU to 38 percent.
NOTES: Robinson's 31 points were a career high, topping her previous best of 26 set earlier this season at Arizona ... it was Robinson's seventh career game with 20+ points and fourth this season (all this season have been in Pac-12 play in the 2018 calendar year) ... Leonard tied her own single-season assists record of 190, reaching that with her 11th assist ... Leonard's 11 assists marked the eighth time in her career she has had 10+ assists, the fourth time this season and second in the past three games.
UP NEXT: CU will wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Southern California at 2 p.m. MT.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
JR Payne, head coach
General
"Every coach in the country wants their team to be peaking right now and play for each other. Not every coach can say that, but I can say that. We're playing well and together. Lexi had a huge night. She was hard to stop. She was defending and doing everything. I love where our team is right now and our fearlessness and competitiveness was pretty evident tonight."
On the difference between the loss on Jan. 14 and tonight
"We are a drastically different team today than we were six weeks ago that it was almost not even worth watching the film [of that game] other than to see what they did on ball screens or on baseline out-of-bounds plays. We're just a different ball club. We're playing more together, we've got great chemistry, we're playing harder, we're rebounding more aggressively. Our young kids have really grown up in the last month as sort of a trial-by-fire. They've had to play more."
"The best teams that I've been a part of, championship teams, have not been the most talented teams or necessarily the deepest teams. The best teams that I've ever coached have a couple of special players and the rest of it is chemistry and it's togetherness and it's selflessness and buying in to playing fearlessly and things like that. Our team has that right now."
On the statement this game made after the game on Jan. 14
"It's really hard for me to compare. It's like Boulder High playing against UCLA when we were there and now we're the University of Colorado Buffaloes and we're competing at UCLA. We're so much better now and so much more together and more cohesive than we were."
On the difference down the stretch after CU tied the game with 1:31 left
"You could definitely say they have more experience. They have three seniors that have logged tons of minutes in their careers. But I wouldn't even say that. They hit a big three. We came down and had a good look at the basket. From then, the clock dictated that it ended up being where if we didn't turn them over, we had to foul. They knocked down free throws and that was sort of the ballgame. The fact that we tied the game and then had a great look down three, I thought we executed well down the stretch, got good looks at the basket, got to the free throw line near the end of the game. In the end, it just comes down to they scored more points."
On building momentum for the Pac-12 Tournament
"I've been telling people our momentum has been building. We won our two games last weekend. Up until that point, we've had great momentum. We've been getting better. We just haven't necessarily had a ton of wins to show for it. But our team right now is definitely swinging in the right direction. And certainly going into the Pac-12 Tournament we should be confident, we should understand how well we're playing together and how successful we are when we are playing together. I love my team, I love where we are and I love our chances."
Alexis Robinson, junior guard
On her mindset coming into the game after the loss on Jan. 14
"Our mindset was just to go in and get a win, get an upset."
On the statement the game made
"I feel like we're not going anywhere. This is our time. We proved it tonight that we can compete with any team out there."
On what's working for the team right now
"We are just coming together and that starts off the court. We're bonding a lot better so we're playing a lot better together."
Team Stats
COLO
UCLA
FG%
.385
.422
3FG%
.259
.421
FT%
.667
.579
RB
41
42
TO
11
11
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
31
FGM
11
3FGM
5
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballG/F
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's BasketballG
/ Women's BasketballG
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