Colorado
15-9,4-9Pac-12
California
9-15,1-12Pac-12
Buffs Break Skid, Beat Cal
February 14, 2020 | Women's Basketball
Junior Mya Hollingshed records double-double in the win
BOULDER – Colorado put an end to its four-game skid with a 64-57 win over California on Friday. The Buffaloes had four players in double figures, led by junior Mya Hollingshed and her eighth career double-double.
The win marks the 15th of the season for JR Payne and Co. CU now stands at 15-9 on the season and 4-9 in Pac-12 play. Cal drops to 9-15 overall and 1-12 in conference play.
Colorado's defense set the tone early and the offense completed the job in the end. The Buffs led by four at the half, 27-23, and used a 56.5 second-half shooting percentage (13-23) to get out to an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter.
Hollingshed posted 10 points and tied her career-high with 12 rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Aubrey Knight led the team with 12 points off the bench. Freshman Jaylyn Sherrod and sophomore Emma Clarke each finished with 11.
Cal's Jaelyn Brown finished with a game-high 15 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams weathered through a sluggish opening quarter. CU's defense held California to a 1-for-6 start and just 2-for-14 in the quarter. The Buffaloes' start was not much better, going 1-for-4 in the opening stretch. The Buffs' offense consisted mostly of free throws, going 6-for-6 in the period. The game was tied at 2-2 at the 5:48 mark before the offense kicked in. Colorado finished 3-for-3 from the field on an 8-0 run to take a 14-6 lead.
Colorado went cold to open the second quarter, starting 0-for-7 from the field. The Bears used a 13-3 run in the first five minutes of the quarter to take a 19-17 lead. Baskets from Annika Jank and Clarke helped get CU back in front, 21-19. The lead flipped back to Cal with just under two minutes to play, but the Buffs scored the final five points to take a 27-23 lead at the half.
Cal cut the CU led down to two, 31-29, in the early minutes of the third quarter but it was the Buffs' defense that was the story of the period. CU limited the Golden Bears to 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) shooting in the quarter. Cal went without a field goal for just over seven minutes in the quarter, allowing CU's lead to grow to nine twice before the end of the quarter. CU shot a game-best 7-for-13 (53.8 percent) and got six points from Knight in her six minutes on the floor.
The Golden Bears got the first basket of the final quarter and Colorado responded with six straight points, extending its lead to 11 (48-37). The CU lead remained at 11 points, 50-39, with a pair of free throws from Hollingshed with 6:54 left to play. Cal chipped away and got within five points in the final minute. Sherrod went to work from the free-throw line, hitting 5-of-6 in waning seconds to close out the victory.
KEY STATISTICS: Colorado hit 20-of-24 free throws on the night, matching its season-high in makes (at Wyoming) It as the first time CU shot over 80 percent from the free-throw line since its win at California (Jan. 26).
NOTES: The win gives CU its first sweep over Cal in program history…Colorado did not hit a 3-point shot on the night (0-10), marking the first time in 91 games (Feb 17, 2017) that CU failed to make a 3…CU was 9-for-10 from the free-throw line in the first half…Colorado scored a season-high 19 fast-break points.
NEXT UP: Colorado's celebration of the 1994-94 25-year reunion continues Sunday. The Buffs will host No. 8 Stanford at noon.
Quotes
Head Coach JR Payne
Overall thoughts
"Obviously, we're really happy to come out with the win. I thought we showed a lot of resiliency when we started off flat, which a team never wants to do. I thought we showed some resiliency when things were not necessarily going our way early. I thought we did a great job of staying together and playing together and even when those shots weren't falling the way we would have wanted, I thought we rebounded well, we defended very well at times. Just really happy to come out with a victory over a good team."
On the win setting up postseason play
"It's huge. I told the team we're back in the race. We stumbled last weekend on some games that we felt like we should have been more competitive and come out on top, but we didn't. Now we're in a position where we got to play catch up. This is a great victory. It's a great place to start and we're back in the hunt for the postseason."
On Aubrey Knight
"She missed some layups early. I thought she was playing well and had some really good looks. She's a lefty, they were on the left side of the basket, they were at the rim. She was getting frustrated because she was getting there and not putting them in. I was proud of her for kind of staying mentally dialed in to the game and not being frustrated. She helped spark that better offense once we started transitioning a little bit. She's got a great motor. She can really run the floor. Our point guards do a great job of finding her when she does that and we needed those points. I thought that opened it up gave us a little bit of breathing room."
Junior Mya Hollingshed
On getting back on track
"It always feels good to get back into where we could be. Those four games that we were losing we knew that we could win them, we just didn't close them out or get defensive stops. Those were key things that cost us basketball games. It's getting to get back in the groove, but now we have more work."
On a sluggish start
"Coach J [Payne] always talks about our pace. Our pace is the most important. When we don't have pace, we get stagnant and just start standing and we have no movement. We try to emphasize moving the ball and just keeping up the pace, being assertive on offense."
Freshman Jaylyn Sherrod
On the final minute
"We were kind of rushing when they were pressing us. We weren't taking our time and doing the right passes. We just were trying to get the ball out of our hands. But once we settled down, got in the cross and set up into our offense they had to foul, and we got free throws."
