Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
13-4,2-4Pac-12
Utah
9-8,2-4Pac-12
Utah's Sharpshooting Downs Buffs
January 17, 2020 | Women's Basketball
Utah hit a school-record 16 3's
BOULDER – It was raining 3-pointers at the CU Events Center on Friday night and unfortunately Colorado was left without an umbrella. The visiting Utah Utes hit a school-record 16 3's on its way to an 84-69 win over the Buffaloes.
Colorado (13-4, 2-4 Pac-12) led at the half, 41-37, but was outscored 47-28 in the second half. 11 of Utah's 16 3's came after the break, including eight in the third quarter. Individually, Utah's Brynna Maxell went 6-of-8 from long range to lead all players with 24 points.
Junior Mya Hollingshed led CU with 19 points. She led all players at the half with 17 but could only muster two more points the rest of the night. Sophomore Emma Clarke and freshman Jaylyn Sherrod totaled 12 and 11 respectively. Redshirt sophomore Aubrey Knight led the team with eight rebounds off the bench.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The offense was flowing right from the opening tip. Colorado got a Hollingshed layup right off the bat, starting on a 5-0 run. Both teams shot an even 60 percent through the first five minutes of the quarter. The Buffs cooled off, finishing the frame 8-for-20 (40.0 percent). The Utes continued to have the hot hand, closing the period 7-for-11 (63.6 percent). A late 3 from Hollingshed gave the Buffs a 21-18 lead, but the Utes hit a last-second layup to close the game to one, 21-20.
Hollingshed continued to keep the offense rolling in the second quarter. She went 4-for-5 in the frame, scoring nine more points. Her lone 3-pointer of the quarter handed the Buffs a six-point lead, 31-25. Freshman Jaylyn Sherrod was 2-for-2 in the quarter, helping the Buffs go 8-for-12 (66.7 percent). Utah's Bench provided most of the Utes' offense, totaling 10 of their 17 second-quarter points.
The Buffs opened the third quarter with a 41-37 lead and extended it to 43-37 with a Peanut Tuitele layup to start the half. The Utes rattled off the next 11 points, taking a 48-43 lead. The Buffs put an end to the Utah run with a Clarke layup, getting the CU back to within three with 4:09 to go in the third.
Utah did not relent, extending its run to 20-2 with three consecutive triples. The run handed the Utes a 57-45 lead, reducing the Buffs' chances of a comeback.
CU got back to within six, 63-57, early in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as it would get. Utah hit three more 3-pointers and shot 75.0 percent (9-12) in the final quarter, extending its lead to 18 before the final buzzer. Maxwell took over the quarter for the Utes, going 4-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 from deep, totaling 10 points in her six minutes.
KEY STATISTICS: Utah's 16 3-pointers also tied the highest total by a CU opponent, matching Iowa State's effort from Feb. 13, 1999. The Utes' eight 3's in the third quarter marked the most by a CU opponent in a quarter.
NOTES: Charlotte Whittaker did not play for the third consecutive game due to injury…CU and Utah split the season series…Utah's 11 3FGA in the third quarter was the most attempted by a CU opponent since USC on Jan. 12, 2018…CU outrebounded Utah 36-30 and led in points in the paint (36-20) and points off turnovers (16-10)…Sherrod handed out nine assists, giving her 97 on the season…Hollingshed's 19 points marked her 11th game in double figures…Utah's 69.6 3FG percentage was the best by a CU opponent since Oregon State's 71.4 (10-14) on Feb. 1, 2019.
NEXT UP: The Buffs take the show back on the road next week. CU starts at No. 3/3 Stanford on Friday, before moving on to California on Sunday.
QUOTES
Head Coach JR Payne
Overall thoughts
"I just told the team I was pretty disappointed with tonight. Mostly, because I know that we're better than that. We didn't guard the way we needed to. Our rebounding effort was phenomenal. But just as a group we were just kind 'bleh' in the second half and every team in this league is too good to be able to do that and bounce back from. When we needed to sort of dig in and get a stop and get a score, we couldn't do that. I think some of it was fatigue and some of it I don't know what it was, but not our best basketball. We're capable of playing better and we definitely will be studying the film and be better by Friday, for sure."
On Utah's 3-point shooting
"They're like layups for them. They're No. 2 in the league in 3-pointers. I'm sure after tonight they're No. 1. We knew [that] going in. I said it right before we went out on the court that they live and die by the 3 sometimes. Tonight they were living there. A great 3-point shooting team is going to get looks and they're going to make shots. My concern was that it was uncontested over and over again. We can do better there."
On mid-game struggles
"We dribbled off our foot several times. We were having a hard time catching the ball and gave up transition baskets. It just snowballed so quickly. We are a very resilient group. We can battle through some adversity but in this conference, we cannot afford to play that way for a stretch like that. As a group, we have to figure out what to do to stop the bleeding when it is starting to go that way."
Junior Mya Hollingshed
On going cold in the third quarter
"We talked about it during halftime that we wanted to come out with a lot of energy and that didn't happen. We needed to find a way to get out of that and it just didn't happen. We were in a hole, but we just had to keep playing."
Redshirt Sophomore Aubrey Knight
On the team's first disappointing loss
"The biggest thing that we need to do is learn from the mistakes we made in this game and go from there. We can't start a third quarter flat like that. We learned during UCLA that if we had maybe started that third quarter better, then the outcome of that game would've been different. Same with this game. Every team in this league is going to execute on that and we must be able to come out in the third quarter and just have more energy and just, in general, be better. We need to learn from this. It's one thing to lose and it's another thing to lose and learn from this."
On the spark not being there
"I think that it's hard for just one person to give that spark, it needs to be something where we feed off teammates. I think today we just weren't there. I think in the first half it was a lot different. We didn't have great energy but in the second half, it plummeted a lot. I think we need to be able to dig in and just fake it until we make it, even if we come out and don't have a lot of energy. We still need to dig in and try for our teammates. We need to do a better job of feeding off each other's energy. It's hard, you can't just have one person giving off energy. It has to be a team effort in that aspect."
