Colorado
15-10,4-10Pac-12
Stanford
23-3,12-2Pac-12
Buffs Fall in a Heartbreaker
February 16, 2020 | Women's Basketball
No. 8/7 Stanford stuns CU at the buzzer
BOULDER – CU Events Center was buzzing on Sunday. With the nostalgia of the 25-year reunion of the 1994-95 women's basketball team and a crowd of 3,481 in attendance, it seemed like Colorado was primed to pull an upset against No. 8/7 Stanford.
The Cardinal had other plans.
Stanford (23-3, 12-2 Pac-12) scored six points, all by Kiana Williams, in the final 14 seconds to stun the Buffaloes at the buzzer, 69-66.
Colorado (15-10, 4-10 Pac-12) had four players score double figures for the second consecutive game. Mya Hollingshed led the Buffs with 19 points. Sophomores Emma Clarke and Peanut Tuitele each totaled 11, while freshman Jaylyn Sherrod finished the day with 10 points.
Williams led all players with a career-high 29 points, going 7-for-13 from 3-point range.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Buffs trailed for 30 minutes in the contest but pushed back in the second half. After a back and forth first quarter, the Cardinal took an eight-point lead, 37-29, into the half. Williams totaled 16 points for Stanford in the first half, helping the Cardinal shoot 42.4 percent in the first two quarters. Hollingshed led the Buffs with 11 points and hit four of CU's nine field goals in the half.
Colorado's comeback started in the third quarter, opening 5-for-7 out of the break. CU went on a 4-for-4 shooting streak, getting contributions from Sherrod, Quinessa Caylao-Do, Charlotte Whittaker and Clarke to cut the Stanford lead down to 45-42. The streak led to a 13-3 run that was capped off by Sherrod free throws to tie the score up at 45 with 2:50 to go in the quarter.
Stanford pushed back out to a three-point lead, 49-46, but Hollingshed and Knight combined for a quick four points to give CU its first lead, 50-49, since the 8:33 mark of the first quarter (4-3). An Ashten Prechtel layup in the final seconds gave Stanford the lead back, 51-50, heading into the final quarter.
Colorado scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a 54-51 lead with 7:47 to play. The Cardinal regained the lead off a Nadi Fingall 3, 59-56, with 5:48 to go and the Buffs answered right back with3's from Clarke and Tuitele to retake the lead on CU's next two possessions. Aubrey Knight added a big jumper to make it an 8-0 Colorado run, extending CU's lead to 64-59 with 3:06 on the clock.
Stanford outscored CU 10-2 in the final 1:57, with the dagger coming from Williams at the buzzer to push Stanford to the finish.
KEY STATISTICS: Colorado faltered at the free-throw line, hitting 17-of-27 (63.0 percent). CU was just 3-for-8 in the final quarter, including 2-for-6 in the final 26 seconds.
NOTES: Colorado falls to 4-21 all-time against Stanford…The Buffs outshot Stanford 41.2 percent to 39.1 percent…Colorado shot 54.5 percent (12-22) in the second half…both teams snagged 36 rebounds, but Stanford led in second-chance points, 8-7…Colorado led the contest for 6:15.
NEXT UP: CU closes out the home schedule next weekend with Arizona State (Feb. 21) and Arizona (Feb. 23).
Quotes
Head Coach JR Payne
On another close loss to Stanford
"After the game down there [at Stanford], I didn't know that it could be worse, but this is. That is why you play the game. There are so many things to take from a game like this. There were so many great things that we did, offensively and defensively. There were so many clutch plays from young players. Q [Caylao-Do] had to play the one because Lesila [Finau] was injured. There were so many great things. It is just heartbreaking because we poured everything that we had into that. I am always proud of this team. I just love every one of them so much. My heart breaks for them because we were right there. We are a resilient group and the great thing is the sun is going to come up tomorrow and we get another opportunity to get better. We get to keep playing. I am very thankful for that and thankful to be on this journey with these people. We have just an incredible group of young women. I love them and am proud of them."
On the final offensive possession
"I'll have to ask Mya [Hollingshed] if she knew [Colorado was out of timeouts]. I think we had said it a bunch of times that we didn't have timeouts. I don't think she thought we had a timeout, but I am not sure. That is part of being a young team. That is why I always save our timeouts because we are really young and I know that we are going to need them. We had to burn two just to stay in the game early in the first half. I don't know what happened at the end. They were definitely pressuring. Kiana [Williams] is a heck of a player and it was a heck of a play."
Senior Quinessa Caylao-Do
On if this loss was worse than the first at Stanford
"Probably. It kind of feels like the same as the last one, except for it was kind of like two threes back-to-back. I think that hurt a little bit more."
On taking positives from playing Stanford close this season
"I don't think it's better, I think this is just an opportunity for us to continue to grow. I think each game we're learning. Especially, just from the Stanford series. I think for the first game it was okay these little things. And then the second game it was just trying to sure up little things. I think each game we can grow up from this and we can learn from this game. Moving forward, I think this will help push our momentum because we were right there and we were so close and we wanted that one."
Sophomore Peanut Tuitele
Overall thoughts
"You know it hurts but we have to move on. We have to learn from it, rather than dwelling on the negatives. I think we need to focus on the positive things that we did in this game. I think we did a lot."
On why this team matches up well with Stanford
"I think we just lock down and execute both offensively and defensively. I think we just execute throughout the entire game. I think it's really good for us."
